Children Of Darkness
by Sweet-Bella
Summary: Buffy is pregnant with Angel's babies. BAus. My pet project. I'm so sad, but this story is coming to its end. The first part of the finale is on!
1. Mommy To Be

**Summary:** Buffy is pregnant with Angel's kids.

**Genre:** Romance.

**Main Couple: **Buffy/Angelus.

**Other Couples:** Xander/Cordelia, Willow/Oz, Spike/Drusilla. Later on, we'll have Xander/Willow, Cordelia/Wesley. 

**Timeline:** After _Bewildered, Bewitched And Confused_and _Passion_, but before _I Only Have Eyes For You_, what means Jenny is dead, but Kendra is not.

**Disclaimer:** The babies and the unknown characters are mine; the known ones are not.

**- Text -**: Characters speaking.

**Children Of Darkness.**

**First Chapter: Mommy To Be - Part 1 of 14**

The first one to notice Buffy wasn't going through her periods was not Joyce, being the clueless mother she was, but Willow. The witch was searching Buffy's backpack for a pen and noticed, with a hint of worry, that there were no pads in her things for the second month in a row.

**- Have you found it, Willow? –** Buffy yelled.

**- Hold on! –** Willow shot back, digging deeper inside the bag. Her fingers brushed lightly against a paper and she pulled it out carefully: it was a sheet of Angel's stationary, with his antique-ish handwriting all over it.

The ginger witch sighed angrily and scrunched the letter into a little ball, but Buffy's supersensitive hearing picked up the soft noise of paper being smashed, and looked up. Her eyes widened in horror when she recognized what exactly Willow was destroying. With super speed she reached the witch and snatched the paper from her hands. And, before anyone made a noise, she left.

* * *

The plastic stick that would seal Buffy's fate was white and thin. The Slayer knew in her heart that she was pregnant, but maybe the lateness in her period was because of the amount of pressure she was under, and not because of a pregnancy.

So, while she waited for the results, she painted her toenails, updated her journal – she didn't write in it since her birthday -, sharpened a few stakes. After a few minutes, she clumsily walked to her restroom, where the pregnancy's test's stick and its box were.

There was a tiny pink positive sign on the result area. Buffy fell on her knees. She was pregnant. Inwardly, her hand flew to her belly. Focusing hard enough, she could feel two tiny lives growing rapidly inside her womb.

They were Angel's children. Both were a miracle she never hoped to have. Two miracles.

**- No one will ever take them away from me, Angel** – she whispered **– No one, never – **she repeated.

* * *

Willow prayed that her suspicions were wrong. If they were right, then Buffy was in big trouble. The witch watched her friend when she came in the library that morning – she was happier than Willow had seen her since Angel left, and always caressing her belly when she thought no one was seeing.

**- I need to go to the bathroom – **Buffy jumped up suddenly. Willow got up as well, as did Cordy.

**- I'll go too – **the redhead said a little too quickly.

**- So will I – **added the brunette.

**- Okay, let's go – **the blonde eyed them strangely. In the restroom, she chose a cabin, and Willow chose the next to hers. Cordelia took a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste out of her purse and proceeded to brush her teeth. Willow was delaying the talk, since there were two sophomores in the restroom as well. They left, and then Willow stepped out of her cabin, speaking loud enough so that, in her cabin, Buffy could hear her. From her spot, Cordelia nodded encouragingly at the redhead.

**- I know, Buffy – **she said casually. Cordelia put her toothbrush and toothpaste in her purse and took her cherry red gloss out of it, starting to apply it on her lips.

**- Know what? – **Buffy said sounding as casual as Willow, but, inside, terrified by the thought that her secret could be out. _**'Please, God, don't'**_.

**- The baby, slayer-girl. – **Cordelia spoke up and Willow smiled at her gratefully. Inside the cabin, Buffy froze, then said:

**- The baby? – **Her voice shook slightly, and she thought desperately. **_'They cannot know'._ – The baby… - **Tears appeared in her eyes and she mouthed a grateful thank you for the ceiling. She walked out of her cabin, the crystal clear drops running down her cheeks and ruining her make-up.** – Okay, so there was a baby – **she whispered** – I had a miscarriage. Oh God, Willow, my baby. My sweet baby.**

Willow knew Buffy would adore the baby with devotion, just because of who was its father. She stroke the blonde hair comfortingly and, awkwardly, Cordelia kneeled next to them.

**- It was for the best, I bet – **The witch whispered trying to cool Buffy down.** – Just imagine. If you managed to go through the entire pregnancy and birth without harm, your child would be the perfect bait for you, having a risky life because you're its mom.**

Listening to her friend's tries of being consoling, Buffy was sure she had made the right choice by lying to them about her state. After a few minutes, the brunette asked with concern:

**- Shouldn't you be in a hospital?**

**- I checked in last night when I started bleeding but, after the doctor said my sweet baby was dead, I just got up, left and didn't look back.**

**- That's insane! – **Willow exclaimed. She stood up and helped Buffy to her feet** - Let's go, I'll take you to the hospital and check you back in. Cordy, go tell Giles…**

**- NO! – **Buffy yelled desperately.** – Please don't. I hate hospitals and am a minor, so they will call mom; I don't want anyone but the three of us to know that I was pregnant. And you can't tell anyone!**

**- But… - **The two girls looked at each other.

**- Promise me!**

* * *

As the slayer watched his predatorily graceful moves, Buffy caressed her belly and prayed that her babies had his eyes. The expressive, chocolaty eyes she loved so much.

Tears filled her eyes. But, oh, God, that was not her Angel. That was Angelus, evil, mean, soulless. But she didn't love him any less because of his soulless ness. After all, Angelus, the demon, was a great part of Angel, the man she chose to love deeply and be the daddy of her children.

But there was a problem. Angelus would not love and protect her and the babies like Angel would, because he hated his soul. Instead, the Scourge of Europe would torture and kill her, because of the love Angel felt for her. And the love that he would feel for the babies.

It was a risk. But he needed to know.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time in 'Children Of Darkness': **Part 2 of 14 – Realizations. Angelus learns he's going to be a daddy. The news bring him some news about himself and his feelings towards the slayer.


	2. Realizations

**Last Time: **Buffy finds out she is carrying two babies, and so does Willow. Will and Cordelia confront Buffy about her pregnancy, but Buffy lies and tells them she lost the baby. Buffy chooses to tell Angelus about the babies.

**Children Of Darkness.**

**Second Chapter: Realizations**

Angelus could smell her.

Fiery and sweet; vanilla and fear; strawberry and sadness; champagne and pregnant hormones.

'Whoa!' Angelus thought. 'Hold on a minute! Pregnancy hormones?'

What the hell was going on with his mate?

Oops, wrong word. She was not his mate, would never be his mate. Archenemy sounded better. After all, the Scourge of Europe would never touch a chick Soul-Boy would have fallen in love with. No way. Not. A. Chance.

The following night, Angelus could smell his dead blood mixed with her powerful one in the brats' developing veins. So, they were his! After all, he had made sure no average boy had crossed the line and gotten into the slayer's pants.

Buffy walked gracefully between graves and headstones; her athletic body showed no sign of her current state. Was he a human man, he would never say she was pregnant.

Tonight she killed just a few vampires – fledglings, stupid, inexperienced ones that became dust before they even knew what killed them. No big fights, no apocalyptical tasks for Buffy.

That's good. Being alone, sensible and pregnant on a cemetery late at night, she was an easy target to any demon, vampire or living man – she would put up the hell of a fight, that was for sure, but it didn't mean that she would win. Fledglings, even them, would have a great meal.

She sneaked stealthily back up to her bedroom and he followed her, staying at the tree in front of her window to keep an eye on her.

And so it went for a week. Angelus left the mansion the hour he knew Buffy would go patrol, kept an eye on her – following her not too close, so she couldn't sense him , knowing he wasn't supposed to be there. There were lots of things he was supposed to be handling or taking care. But yet he looked after her every night from the second she stepped out of home to the second she sneaked back in.

Not because of her, surely, but because of the babies who were his heirs. Angelus II and Angelus III, the little ones with angelic faces. Perfect names for the sons of the legendary and feared Scourge of Europe.

No, he was not in love with her. He would never love a chick who was able to stake him or pummel him into a bloody pulp with a hand behind her back. And, just for the record, he could not love, being a soulless, evil, blood-lustful demon. All he wanted was to wreak havoc, to maim, kill, torture, rape or drain. Probably all of them.

But well, if he weren't in love, then why he wanted to kill everything that hurt that golden, soft, satiny skin? Why he wanted to jump at her, take her home and just fuck her senseless? Why he wanted to protect her and the brats inside her… Hold her and never let go?

He couldn't love her…

… Could he?

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time in 'Children Of Darkness': **Part 3 of 14 – The Meeting. Angelus receives a message from Buffy. They meet and discuss the babies, her friends and themselves. A chapter full with Buffy and Angelus' cuteness and goodness.


	3. The Meeting

**Last Time: **Aware that Buffy is pregnant with his kids, Angelus takes the task of watching over her. While in it, he reflects over the way she affects him and what he feels for her.

**Children Of Darkness.**

**Third Chapter: The Meeting**

Going into the second month of pregnancy, Buffy stood up naked in front of her mirror, safely locked into her bedroom, studying very carefully her body. Her slayer's sensitive eyes caught the little changes in her body: her breasts were slightly more swollen, her belly growing up slowly. Sooner than she expected, the city would know she was going to be a mother and people would talk.

And, with the living commenting, the fact that the slayer was knocked up would spread like fire amongst the undead. It would end up in Drusilla's or, worse, Spike's ears, and they would drop every little detail they could get in Angelus' ears.

And Angelus, being the smart-ass he was, would know he was responsible for her being pregnant. Buffy sometimes had a little suspicion that he was stalking her and was sure as hell that he knew she hadn't gone to bed with any man beside her souled form.

_

* * *

_

Meet me at the old apartment tonight

* * *

Angelus frowned and quirked one eyebrow wonderingly. Why was his slayer so interested in seeing him? The babies, he concluded very quickly. Had anything happened to the babies? Maybe someone had found out she was pregnant and the kids were his? Angelus knew she hadn't told anyone about her state and neither had he. Dru would want to have the babies, and Angelus did not want Spike's filthy hands on Buffy. 

Angelus arrived on the apartment with the sunset. So, when Buffy walked in the apartment, she felt the previously welcome warm tingle running down her spine. She tracked him down and met his gaze: he was lying on the bed, hot as hell in tight black leather pants and a faintly shimmering green velvet shirt.

**- Hey –** he said softly and, for an insane minute, she was sure her Angel was back. But then the absence of soul in his eyes slapped her in the face, and she blinked anxiously, hoping to hold back the tears.

**- Hey. I have something to tell you.**

**- I know about the babies – **he said gently. She looked at him utterly shocked.

**- You what?**

**- I know you're pregnant with my children –** Angelus said a little too arrogantly.

**- My babies are not your children, Angelus – **Buffy snapped. **– They are Angel's.**

The demon that wore her lover's body looked at her reproachfully.

**- How can you say you love So… Angel –** he corrected himself quickly as a light twinkled in her eye **– when you refuse to see that I am part of who he is? If it weren't for me, Angel would be dead long ago. We share the same body. I am the father as much as he is.**

The slayer eyed Angelus wearily. He was being sincere, she could tell. Hesitantly, and giving in to a desire bigger than her will power, she took a few steps towards him.

**- Can you… Hug me? Please?**

She didn't need to ask twice: Angelus sheltered her in his cool arms and, surrounded by her warmth, had an epiphany.

He loved her as much as Angel did. Okay, so he was the Scourge of Europe and she was the Slayer – a Slayer, he corrected himself recalling the weird girl that tried to burn him – but she also was a strong, sexy, intelligent girl who proved to be a worthy mate.

**- I missed you – **she whispered softly.

**- I'm here now.**

**- How did you find out about the babies?**

**- I smelled the pregnancy hormones in your blood – **he answered simply.** – Who else knows about the babies?**

**- Besides you? Me –** she told him and took a deep breath.** – Willow and Cordelia found out but I told them I had an abortion – **he frowned.** – What? – **she asked.

**- You will start to show soon, love. They'll be able to tell you're expecting. Maybe we should leave.**

**- What! Why?**

**- I don't want them to force you to give up on our babies. – **She beamed and he frowned.** – What?**

**- You said our babies – **she explained happily.

**- I did? – **She nodded** – Well… They are our babies, aren't they? – **She gave him a 'duh!' look. He smirked. They cuddled together for a while, but she spoke:

**- Angelus?**

**- Hmmm?**

**- And us? – **She cleared her throat nervously.** – I mean… Are we a couple or what?**

**- Well… - **Angelus reflected over her question** – You cannot tell your friends about us being together – **he warned seriously and she nodded, aware of this little condition** – If you fell alright with it, then… We are game.**

Buffy knew this would change her life one more time, so she considered the pros and cons of getting back together with the man she loved very carefully, and grinned when she realized there were more of one than of the other.

**- We are game – **she said. Angelus smirked.

**- Good – **he quirked an eyebrow when she yawned.** – Sleep trouble?**

**- No – **she answered** – It's just… I haven't slept well since you broke loose and it got worse after I found out I was pregnant. Every night I fall asleep wondering if when I wake up my mother will know that she'll be a grandmother, or you'll decide to blow up the city because of me.**

**- You can sleep now – **Angelus said softly** – You're safe here with me. I won't do anything to put you or the boys in risk, and your mom is not around to discover anything.**

**- How can you know they're boys and not two girls? Ooh! – **An air of laughter surrounded her** – A slayer! That would be a shock! A vamp who loved a slayer and fathered another one or maybe two!**

**- Somehow I doubt the Council would call the daughters of Angelus to be the slayers, baby – **he said calmly** – Those fools would shut their doors down before they called my girls. And, even if they did, their first task would be to kill their daddy.**

**- I couldn't care less – **Buffy shrugged and snuggled deeply into his embrace** – This feels nice – **she closed her eyes and mumbled 'love you'. The last thing she heard before falling asleep was...

**- I love you too.**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time in 'Children Of Darkness': **Part 4 of 14 – The Soul. Angel guest-stars! He discusses Buffy and the babies with Angelus, entertaining the possibility of being brought back.


	4. The Soul

**Last Time: **Buffy and Angelus meet, discuss their babies, wonder about their gender, decide to get back together and have their first fluffy moment as a couple (This story will have them a lot).

**Children Of Darkness.**

**Fourth Chapter: The Soul**

Angel was buried in denial. Buffy was wrong! She was not pregnant, she could not be! And Angelus was letting her – and himself – grow fond to an inexistent baby.

'She is right, Soul-Boy', Angelus told his soul. 'She is really carrying our babies. I can smell hormones in her blood and listen to two extra heartbeats that are not hers'.

'We can't have children!' The soul cried. 'We're a vampire!'

'Don't you think I know that?' Angelus roared. 'But you were the only one she got laid with, and she was a virgin! There might be some mystical crap that explains the pregnancy'.

'You know Giles is the man with the answers', Angel warned his demon. 'You go to him, tell everything and ask him how Buffy could get pregnant since we're long dead'.

'ARE YOU INSANE?' Angelus screamed. 'I'd like to see Buff grow big with my children'.

'You and Buffy can't hide the pregnancy forever', Angel reminds him. 'Buffy has a tiny bone-structure and, if I'm not wrong, she's nearly three months along. Her belly will grow soon, especially if she's carrying twins, and the world will know she's a mother'.

'I know that, okay?' Angelus growled furious. 'You don't need to tell me. I'll protect her and the kids'.

'Her friends despise you', Angel reasoned. 'They will be more protected if you go and leave them behind with Buffy's friends'.

'Stupid fool!' Angelus roared once more. 'You forget I'm Angelus? Only my name is enough to make very demon piss on its pants. No one will dare to touch her and/or our children. Now shut up. Buffy's coming'.

* * *

Angel always knew Buffy would be a terrific mother. Just the way she behaved with him before and the way she moved carefully around the cemeteries now told him how precious the babies were, and how great a mother she would be. But Angelus' stubbornness was driving Angel insane. Couldn't his demon see his actions were endangering Buffy and the babies' well being?

The babies… His babies. They were his children too. God, that was impossible, his semen being long dead along with his body. He created life, and that was what he wanted the top most with Buffy. It was also amazing. After all, he wasn't supposed to create one life, let not say two. Now, were he in possession of his body, he would have gone straight to Giles and asked for answers… And begged for his life if necessary.

No, he was not upset with Buffy's pregnancy. If he were an average man and not a vampire with a soul – and a loophole – he would be bursting with happiness. After all, since he had given his heart to Buffy, Angel dreamt of marriage, kids, a dog and a house with a white picket fence in front of it.

* * *

'We're in May, what means Buffy is four months along…' Angel said casually. There was pride in Angelus' voice when he spoke:

'Yeah, she is. And her belly… Good hell, it's lovely'.

'Yes. But the game the two of you are playing is dangerous. Way too risky. It's going to get riskier and riskier and end up with one of them or all of them dying'.

'Don't say that!' Angelus hissed. 'According to Buffy, her physician said the three of them are okay'.

'You claim to love Buffy and the babies' Angel teased.

'I do!' Angelus shot back.

'Then leave!' Angel demanded. 'I bet Giles, Joyce and Buffy's friends will accept and love the twins easily, because they all love Buffy. But, if you come along, the acceptance will be harder'.

Angel knew he had hit a point with Angelus.

'I hate to admit it… But you have a point, Soul-Boy'.

'Yes, I do – and we finally agree on something!' Angel said. 'Listen, it won't be easy, Buffy is only seventeen and a slayer, she isn't ready to be a full-time mom'.

Silence. Angelus had no comebacks to Angel's words, true as they were. Angel said:

'You think I'm angry at you, because you and Buffy are couple-y' God, his days around Buffy and her friends were rubbing off on him. 'But I'm not. The fact that the two of you seem to get along nicely pleases me. It will be easier to deal with her when I'm back'.

'Who says you'll be back?' "Shut up!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time in 'Children Of Darkness': **Part 5 of 14 – Bond Connection. Buffy senses something is wrong with her mate and confronts him. More B/Aus cuteness, and the angst that's typical of B/A.


	5. Bonded

**Last Time: **A very special appearance of Angel. We learn that the soul is still around, and discussing Buffy and the babies with Angelus. Always believing he is doing what is best for Buffy, Angel tries to convince Angelus to leave.

**Author's Notes:** I'm impressed by the e-mails that came asking me not to bring Angel back. Don't worry, he won't.

**Children Of Darkness.**

**Fifth Chapter: Bonded**

After all, what the hell was wrong with Angelus?

That was everything Buffy was thinking, while she pretended to be focused on a History paper. Her demonic boyfriend was brooding. The two of them were closer than ever, planning on how they would tell Joyce and Buffy's friends that they were – again – a couple and would rapidly grow into a family of four.

With a soft, quiet noise, the Chosen one closed her book and approached her thoughtful lover. Angelus jumped a little, brought back to reality when he felt her little, skilled hands massaging the tense muscles of his shoulders and neck.

**"You have something face"**, she said lightly, and bit the stilled artery at his neck. Angelus growled pleased, but stiffened as her words sank. However, he hid his discomfort quickly.

**"Do not"**, he said, wrapping his cool fingers around her wrist and pulling her around so she stayed in front of him and he could kiss those succulent lips properly. As he kissed her neck and jaw line, she undid a very large knot on his shoulder.

**"Do too!"** She shot back. **"Look how knotted your muscles are. Don't you try to fool me, Mr. Angelus!"** She warned him and, with a glance at the clock hanging on the wall, got up. **"I must go. Giles wants me to report every patrol, because of you"**, Buffy said and looked expectantly at him.

**"I'm not planning an Apocalypse. You can tell him I just annoyed the hell out of you. Between you and me, right now all I want to be is… Daddy"**, he smiled and kissed her softly, lapping at the warm mouth. **"Can I stop by later?"**

**"Of course. Love you"**.

**"Love you too"**.

* * *

The slayer knew her mate was hiding something from her. She could feel it in her skin. So, two weeks later, when she reached fourth month of pregnancy and she noticed her belly was starting to grow, she chose to confront him and find out the truth.

Buffy met Angelus brooding. She wasn't surprised to find him doing so – his days as Angel must have rubbed off on him. Buffy sighed loudly, and he met her gaze with a sheepish grin.

**"Hey, baby"**, he greeted her, giving her an admiring look. **"Look at you, you're showing!" **Something stopped him from saying more, and she sat on the chair, instead of sitting on his lap, where she liked to stay. Angelus frowned. **"Anything wrong?"**

**"You tell me"** It was her reply. **"You've been different, I can tell. You've been brooding a lot lately, and that's…"** She paused and stared blankly at the wall across the room. It was still hard for her to mention the man that conquered her heart. **"Very Angel"**.

He didn't answer, and realization hit her when she studied his guilty face.

**"Damn! It's Angel, isn't it? He's somewhere inside you. What is he saying to you?"** She glared at him, knowing it was a successful way to make him talk. Angelus sustained her glare and sighed, telling Angel to go to Hell.

**"Angel is telling me to leave you. To go away… Leaving you and the babies behind me. He says your folks are going to accept you and the babies more easily if I'm not with you"**.

Buffy felt a bottomless despair at his words.

**"No… No! You can't… You can't leave me! You just can't! If my mother believes I'm gonna be a single mom, she'll take them away from me! And I promised myself I wouldn't let anyone stay between my babies and me! I promised Angel that!" **She screamed before breaking down.

**"They hate me, baby. They. Hate. Me"** Angelus said pausedly. **"They can – and they will – love the babies, but…"**

**"But they'll never replace their daddy in love. They will never love the kids like you already do, and they're not even born yet! You're sure of that, I know. If you leave me, I'll be alone"** Tears moistened the big, silver-ish eyes. **"We're family, you, me and the babies. And family sticks together, don't you know that?" I'll never tell the kids their daddy doesn't love them, because I know it'd be a lie, but they don't. They'll think they're undesired"**.

Suddenly, Angelus felt like they weren't discussing the babies and themselves anymore. Buffy was pouring out the deepest recesses of her soul to him. He pictured Buffy in her childhood and young teenage: a little girl with honey-blond hair (which was coming back since she couldn't dye it any longer, because of her state), big deep green eyes, a extremely large amount of bottled up energy and a fierce determination.

Damned be Hank. He, who was a demon, protected his children – that were two – when they weren't even born. How could Hank, a living man, not protect his only child?

**"I'm not your father"**, he growled.

**"Then why are you acting like him?"**

He hugged her finally, his cool fingers massaging her back. Buffy looked up at him, crystal-clear tears running down her pale cheeks.

**"Angelus, please… Please. I love you so much, I just can't deal with the thought of being a single mother when I know you love the babies. And not having you around when I or the babies need you the top most…"** She hid her face into his chest, and her muffled sobs were almost silenced by his shirt. **"I can't be a mom alone"**.

Angelus squeezed her tightly, peppering kisses all over her honey-golden hair and the satiny skin of her neck.

**"Hey"**, he said softly. **"Hey"**.

**"I won't lose you. I won't. I won't!"** She repeated over and over and over again.

**"I'm not going anywhere"**.

She looked up with a faint glint of light – hope – inside her eyes.

**"Really?"** She asked, her voice sounding like a little child's.

**"Really, darling"**.

Buffy gave him a tearfully happy smile, and met his lips on a very passionate kiss. They fell on the bed, and the slayer moaned when Angelus sank softly his fangs on her neck.

**"I love you"**, he whispered. **"I swear I love you, and the kids"**.

**"I know"**, she breathed. **"And I love you too"**.

She suddenly smirked, and rolled around so he rested under her. With a mischievous wink, she wiggled and he growled playfully. Thankful that they had gone through that obstacle, Buffy playfully growled back.

**

* * *

**

TO BE CONTINUED

**

* * *

Next Time in 'Children Of Darkness': Part 6 of 14 – Coming Clear. Joyce, Giles, Willow, Xander and Cordelia find out the truth about Buffy's state, and the Slayer turns to Angelus for help. What will they do?**


	6. Coming Clear

**Author's Notes:** I'm sorry for the big lateness of this chapter, but I was finishing up some stuff about Karenelle's baby shower. She's having a boy, and it'll be my godson! So, this chapter goes to Karenelle and baby Tristan Lucas – how she managed to convince Roan to name their baby after CMM's characters I'll never know.

**Last Time:** Shaken by Angel's words, Angelus considers the idea of leaving Buffy and their unborn children behind, but the slayer confronts him. They have a little talk and share a fluffy moment.

**Children Of Darkness **

**Sixth Chapter: Coming Clear**

After the first two weeks when Buffy stopped mentioning Angel, Joyce believed her relationship with that handsome – yet older – man was over, and the break up was the reason for Buffy's sloppiness – being a phase, while Buffy got her heart and her self-esteem together. However, as time went by and Buffy insisted in dressing large clothes instead of the short ones she usually did, the gallery owner started to worry.

She had chosen that night to have a little talk with her daughter. When the teenager tiredly walked in, Joyce greeted her.

**"Hey, baby girl. How did tutoring go?"**

Buffy gave her mother a dreamy smile. Maybe Angel had come around, Joyce thought.

**"Great, mom. Really great"**, she flashed a bright smile. **"Now, what will we have for dinner?"** She asked, her mouth watering as images of chicken with peppermint sauce filled her mind. Babies want chicken, she thought with a smile.

**"One of your favorite dishes, honey"**, Joyce said cheerfully. **"Lasagna".**

Buffy fought against the wave of nausea that threatened to engulf her.

**"Uh, mom…"** she paused hesitantly. **"I'm suddenly not so up for dinner anymore. Just wanna sleep my tiredness off, I guess"** she said and ran the stairs up quickly.

**"Elizabeth Anne Summers!"** Joyce called, her voice twinge with worry. **"Come back down, young lady, I think we need to have a little talk".**

The terror made Buffy's gut to knot painfully, like it used to be when she was still on her first three months of pregnancy. She stretched her sore muscles, faking a yawn. She looked sleepily at her mother, rubbing her grayish eyes.

**"Can't we talk tomorrow, mommy? I'm so tired".**

Joyce hesitated, but nodded anyway. She waited a few months, so she could wait another day.

**"Go to bed sweetheart".**

* * *

Next morning Buffy managed to avoid her mother and sneak out of the house, and was right then in Sunnydale High's restroom, checking on her ever-growing belly. Her babies were going on healthy and safe. Wrapped in her own happiness, Buffy didn't see Harmony walking in until it was too late – when their eyes met over the mirror. Buffy froze.

**"Oh. My. God!"** Harmony exclaimed in shock. Buffy's surprise started to turn into panic. **"I have to tell Cordelia this! She'll finally get that hottie's heart and dump that jock Xander".**

Before Buffy could move, Harmony took off. Terror, the same feeling that had made her gut to knot the other night, made her to gather her stuff and bolt out as well. But Harmony went to the cafeteria, where was more possible Cordelia would be. The slayer took off the other away, skipping classes.

Running home.

* * *

**"Cordelia!"** Harmony screeched excitedly. Cordelia shivered. **"I have such great news for you! They'll lead you towards that mysterious hottie's heart!"**

**"You mean Angel?"** Cordelia asked. Harmony nodded. The brunette looked at the ditzy girl she used to call her best friend and sighed discretely with annoyance. Harmony didn't wait for Cordelia to ask her to sit – she just sat, her eyes sparkling. **"So?"**

**"Well, you know he was after that Buffy freak"** Harmony whispered conspiratorially. Cordelia nodded dully. **"He'll have to give up on her. She's already taken. The guy she's fucking with knocked her up actually. Four, five months, I guess".**

Harmony could see the wheels moving inside Cordelia's head, but for the wrong reason. Suddenly, the May queen got up and left without thank-yous, what infuriated Harmony.

**"Gee, you're welcome, Cordy!"** She yelled sarcastically.

* * *

Angelus could feel the pull of Buffy's soul calling him, could sense her powerful blood singing for him to be close, so he sent Spike and Drusilla away. His two insane children refused to leave, so he flew, going to the apartment where they still used to go when they wanted to be freely together, to be an expectant couple.

When she stormed in, her blood pumping frantically on her veins, she was relieved to see him in one piece.

**"Oh, thank you God"**, she whispered, holding him tightly, close to her tiny enlarging body. **"I'm so glad you felt me".**

Angelus made her look at him. He noticed the bloodshot eyes.

**"Are you okay? Are the babies fine?"**

**"The three of us are well, but it won't last if we don't leave right now!"** She barked desperately at him. Her words didn't sting. Something had happened and she was lashing out on him. But he needed her to calm down.

**"Buff, chill!"** He took her face in his hands and kissed her long and hard. **"Now, tell me what's going on".**

**"One of the Cordettes, Harmony, she saw me this morning when I was checking out my belly in the restroom. I've been measuring my waist every day since I found out I was pregnant, and I was about to measure it when she came in and she saw it… she saw us. She left before I could do anything. I know I could threaten her to stay quiet… But I just stayed glued in my spot. She probably told Cordelia right away".**

**"Oh, damn!"** He finally realized why she was so upset. **"Everyone else knows by now"**, he scooped her in his arms and took off with her to the sewers' complex he used when he lived there. **"Now relax, it's safe. No one will look for us here".**

* * *

Cordelia was paler than a ghost when she walked in the library. Fortunately, the only person there was Willow, researching, of course, Angelus. The redhead witch glanced at the brunette's perplexed face and asked:

**"Gee, Cordelia, what's wrong? Did you break a nail?"** When there wasn't any comeback, Willow got worried. **"Hey, Cor, what's going on with you? No matter what it is, we'll deal".**

**"Do you remember Buffster told us she had aborted?"** Cordelia asked. When Willow nodded, she kept on. **"Well, Harmony…"** She choked and then cleared her throat nervously. **"Harmony told me Buffy is knocked up".**

**"She was wrong".**

**"I don't think so"** Cordelia disagreed. **"She told me Buffy looked like she was four or five months along. Harmony wouldn't lie to me, and Buffy is acting strangely".**

**"But she said she lost the baby!"** Willow exclaimed, jumping up and starting to pace around. **"She even cried in front of us, remember?"**

**"God, if Buff is really pregnant…"**

From the door, three shocked voices came:

**"Buffy is what?"**

Cordelia and Willow looked around, and noticed Joyce, Giles and Xander standing there.

* * *

**"We need to tell someone about the babies"**, Angelus said softly, after Buffy calmed down. She glanced at him skeptically.

**"Who can we tell? Willow? My mother? Giles? Xander? My absent father?"** She suggested ironically. **"I'm fond of you being in one piece and not ashes".**

**"Actually, I was thinking about my side of your… family"**, Angelus grimaced slightly. **"Vampires are usually very loyal to their sires. I think we should put Spike and Drusilla in this war".**

Buffy was about to reply, when they heard her friends' and mother's voices coming from above, and her scent mingled with fear. She clung to him like he was her lifeline and, after a few minutes, looked up at him.

His usually soft brown eyes were then blood red, and he had his game face on.

* * *

After going to Angel's apartment,which they found empty, and not daring to go to the mansion, where they would probably find Spike and Drusilla, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Willow and Cordelia had no clue where Buffy, Angelus or the two of them were hiding. Joyce then had an insight and suggested:

**"We should go to my house. The only clothes Buffy has with her are the one she was dressing when she went to school this morning and I bet she'll try and get her stuff".**

Grandma-to-be was not wrong. A few minutes after the sunset, the expectant parents walked in the house – Buffy whispered an invitation to Angelus – and ran right into the infuriated Scooby Gang. Terrified, Buffy stepped back, fully standing behind Angelus. The vampire growled softly, standing protectively in front of his mate.

**"Buffy, go upstairs. You're grounded"**, Joyce hissed angrily. Buffy, however, didn't move. **"I said go to your bedroom. Tomorrow, we'll discuss what will be done of your baby"**, Joyce turned to Angelus. **"You, sir, are no longer allowed to see my daughter, or welcome at my house".**

Angelus' eyes flashed golden, and Buffy knew he was very close to become the vicious killer he now was – but had run low since they had become a couple again.

**"No"**, she said calmly. Joyce widened her eyes.

**"Excuse me?"**

**"No, I won't obey you, and Angel doesn't have to"**, she repeated as calmly as possible. **"You come with me"**, she added to Angelus. **"I'll pack up a few things and then we can leave".**

"I thought you said you had lost the baby", Willow murmured softly, a little later, when Buffy came back down, carrying a duffel bag, with Angelus hot in her heels, and loaded with her bags. The witch looked hurtfully at her, and the slayer smiled sympathetically at her friends.

**"Look around, Willow"**, she said. **"My mother tried to pry me apart of the man I love, you guys hate his guts and don't accept neither my pregnancy, nor him"**, she looked at her silent friends for a minute, then spoke again. **"You only see a vampire that I have to kill. And I…"** She then looked lovingly at Angelus. **"I see a man, the man I chose to be my first, who I chose to give everything I am. And he gave me everything a normal man could give me. He gave me my baby".**

**"The softie, cryptic, polite Angel no longer exists, Buffy!"** Xander exploded. **"He is a murderer! Do I need to remind you that he killed Ms. Calendar?"** He added coldly.

**"Don't you dare to talk about my fiancé like that, Alexander Lavelle Harris!"** Buffy threatened seriously.

**"Fiancé!"** Joyce shrieked from the kitchen's door, her eyes flashing with anger. Angelus chuckled at Buffy's sheepish expression.

**"Oops!"** She grinned at him and then turned to where Joyce was. **"Yes, mother, my fiancé. We actually plan on getting married".**

This was the proverbial last straw to Joyce. She looked at the breathtakingly beautiful young couple and said icily:

**"Get out".**

Everyone, but Angelus that is, looked at her in shock.

**"Get out of this house, and never come back again"**, she hissed. **"I no longer have a daughter".**

The brief look that marred Buffy's face was quickly replaced by one of resignation. Holding Angelus tightly on hers, she rested their hands over the curve of her grown belly. Their Claddagh rings shone dimly under the lamp of the porch.

**"I don't want and don't need you guys anyway, since I already have my family, a happy family, one that's not destroyed by selfishness. And by family I mean Angel, my baby and me"**, she sighed deeply. 'I won't cry', she told herself. 'Not now'.

When Buffy left without looking back, and after the librarian and the three teenagers left her house, Joyce looked around herself, and wandered in Buffy's now-former bedroom, and broke down. The same happened to her daughter, but Buffy had Angelus to catch her as she fell. After her tears subsided, the slayer smiled strangely at her love.

**"We shall go to your… side of the family".**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time In 'Children Of Darkness':** Spike and Drusilla join Buffy and Angelus' little family.


	7. Loyalty

**Last Time:** Lies don't last long, and Buffy learns that the hard way, when Harmony tells Cordelia about the pregnancy and the other Scoobies and Joyce find it out too.

**Children Of Darkness **

**Seventh Chapter – Loyalty**

Being a Saturday, Buffy stayed home dressing a loose pair of shorts and a black T-shirt with 'property of Angelus' written in red, especially made for her – a gift from Angelus on the early days of their relationship, right after they found out about their babies. For the first time since she realized she would be a mother, Buffy was wearing clothes that showed her swollen stomach.

**"You look lovely, honey"**, Angelus kissed her soundly.

**"Maybe you should take my stuff upstairs while I clean this mess"**, she said when he stood up to his full height. As always, she felt little, safe and secure next to him. Angelus nodded and went upstairs. Buffy was folding the sheets when her spidey-sense kicked in, and four vampires surrounded her. The leader was apparently a woman with violet eyes and black hair.

**"Well, well, well"**, she said with a smirk, game-face on and fangs gleaming under the dim light. **"The Slayer stopped by. How nice of you"**, the soulless lilac orbs traveled up and down Buffy's body, stopping at the protruding belly. **"And you brought an appetizer!"**

**"Touch the slayer and daddy will kill you, Rosabella"**, Drusilla said as she walked down the stairs. The vampires fell to their knees, but not the woman the brunette seer called Rosabella.

**"She will kill us, mistress Drusilla. And so will her child after her"**, Rosabella said.

**"None of them will"**, Angelus said. Rosabella's face shifted from the demonic visage to her normal face. Buffy recalled how Angel preferred that she didn't see him in game-face and squeezed Rosabella's neck tightly.

**"I can snap your neck right now if I feel like it"** She threatened. **"Angelus is mine. Touch him and you'll be dust".**

* * *

**"Siblings!"** Drusilla repeated over and over again. The brunette vampire took the blonde slayer in her arms and spun her around, making Buffy laugh. The whole scenery made Angelus chuckle, but, as Buffy paled, he warned:

**"Enough of that, Dru, otherwise mummy will throw up".**

**"I have to tell Miss Edith"**, Drusilla put Buffy down and kissed her cheek. **"I'm sure she will help me take care of the babies".**

Buffy looked up at Angelus.

**"You have now an officially shocked slayer"**, she announced with a perplexed grin. **"Drusilla is happy I'm having babies".**

**"She has the mentality of a child. Dru always wanted to sire a baby, but people don't walk around with babies at night, so…"**

**"I don't like that Rosabella-chick"**, Buffy changed subject in true Buffy-style, **"she has the hots for you, I can tell".**

Angelus chuckled throatily, the way that made her knees go weak. Buffy turned on her spot facing him; he leaned and purred seductively into her ear:

**"She can burn for me if she feels like it, but I like my woman alive".**

* * *

Drusilla came in her and Spike's bedroom, skipping happily, only to find her lover looking appreciatively at Rosabella, who was pacing on the hall, obviously upset. Drusilla snickered loudly and ran to her dolls.

**"I have news. Great news, Miss Edith"**, she said casually, knowing fully well that Spike had now his attention focused on her. **"Daddy brought me a new mommy and two shiny new siblings!"**

**"Angelus did what?"** Spike exclaimed. He wheeled back and forth. **"But the wanker was brooding over the slayer!"**

Drusilla looked at her child like he was a silly little boy.

**"Daddy brought a powerful mommy, Spikey. The one his soul loves as well".**

**"Dru! Spike!"** The slayer's melodic voice flowed from her and Angelus' chambers until Drusilla and Spike's. **"Can you come here, please?"**

The brunette seer skipped all the way to the couple's rooms; her child followed her in his wheelchair. When Spike caught sight of the Slayer – who was happily nestled on Angelus' arms – he almost felt his jaw hitting the floor. Where once had been flat muscles, there was now a proud growing belly. The Slayer was glowing with happiness. And so was Angelus.

**"What's up, mate?"** Spike addressed Angelus.

**"We need help"**, Angelus said. Despite the fact that he was speaking to his children, his eyes were on Buffy's face.

**"What for, daddy?"** Drusilla asked gently.

**"We are family"** Buffy spoke up. **"Mine doesn't accept the babies and Angelus, so we need your help to protect him and the babies".**

**"While Buffy is in school, she wants one of you to be around"**, Angelus explained to the vampires. **"Only the two of you and not Rosabella"**, he added at her glare, and yelped when she smacked his arm. **"Or any other female vampire".**

**"The two of you are the only ones I can trust around Angelus. Any other female, vamp, demon or human, you can do whatever it pleases you"**, Buffy got up and kissed Drusilla's forehead softly. **"If any of my so-called friends come too close from here, don't let them in".**

Spike stared at the couple. Buffy seemed young, innocent and anxious, more like the seventeen-year-old she actually was. Angelus looked almost normal, even peaceful, but Spike knew him too well – one of the perks of being raised by him.

And Angelus was nervous. That was a surprise for Spike, because Angelus never lost his cool, never got nervous with anything. Angelus being anxious meant the Slayer and the brats meant something for him.

**"Relax, mate. We'll help".**

**To Be Continued**

**Next Time In 'Children Of Darkness':** Chapter Eight – Dangerous. Someone of the group betrays Angelus, but is discovered. Buffy and her vamp make a decision.

**AN:** Just for the record, I'm _not_ Rosabella!


	8. Traitor

**Summary:** Cornered, Buffy and Angelus go for help. And guess whom they ally with? Drusilla and Spike, that's right! But the Slayer and her babies get a whole new nemesis: Rosella, one of Spike's minions, who has a huge crush on Angelus.

**Children Of Darkness **

**Eighth Chapter – Traitor**

Unknown to Angelus and Buffy, there was a meeting of demons going on at Willy's. A bunch of Maetrink demons, beasts with yellow-greenish thick skin, a pair of weird gray horns on their foreheads, muddy brown eyes and long, venomous claws, had learnt of Angelus' children with the Slayer and were deeply interested on getting them.

The demons were discussing between themselves what to do to capture the Slayer when the time was due for the babies' birth. They were decided to create a weapon from Angelus' miraculous children with the Slayer. After all, it was known vampires couldn't conceive, so the kids should serve for a greater purpose: to destroy their parents so Darkness could rule the world.

Sitting majestically on a chair next to the Maetrink demons' leader was Rosella, who had told the demons about the babies. No surprise at all, since she wanted to get rid of the children and their mother, so she could have Angelus all for herself. Rosella was engrossed on a furiously whispered discussion with the leader. Neither the vampire, nor the demon noticed the man with icy green eyes and spiky red hair who stood on the back of the bar.

Jack left before the traitor could see and recognize him.

* * *

Spike, Nate and Dan were playing poker when Jack stormed in the living room, clearly upset.

**"Where are master Angelus and mistress Slayer?"** He asked Spike.

**"Blondie took him to a sonogram tonight. Have no idea what the hell a sonogram is, mate, but it's bloody important, it seems. The Slayer was all hyped"**, Spike answered.

**"Having fun, boys?"** Rosella asked walking in. Jack openly growled at her and left to go feed. The female vampire frowned. **"What's wrong with Jack?"** She asked.

No one answered to her question and, after a few minutes, where the lying vampire stood behind Dan, Angelus walked in, smirking happily, with Buffy tearfully smiling by his side.

**"So, how did the bloody sonogram go?"** Spike asked not looking up from his cards. Rosella went to casually stand next to Angelus, and Buffy's eyes narrowed until they were slits on her face. The Slayer's rival tried to run her hand over Angelus' ass…

Spike, Nate, Dan and the dark-haired vampire smirked at the sound of breaking bones and at Rosella's pained roar. Buffy, of course, had seen the vampire trying to touch her mate and, jealous and angry, had broken her wrist with a fluid movement.

**"Don't test me, Rosella"**, the Slayer hissed powerfully. **"I have nothing to lose – in fact you being gone would bring me advantages and peace of mind – but you do".**

**"Oh yeah?" **Rosella challenged. **"What?"**

**"Your precious immortality. Remember I'm still the Slayer, and I still can use a stake. You really don't wanna wake up in hell, do you?"** Buffy threatened. Angelus smirked proudly. Too bad she didn't wanna be turned… **"Touch my Angelus again, and one day you'll burn there forever".**

Furious, Rosella bolted. Having heard the commotion from the kitchen, Jack came back to the living room and kneeled respectfully in front of Angelus and Buffy.

**"I went to that bar where the demons usually gather, master"**, he said. **"Willy's".**

**"So?"**

**"There was a bunch of Maetrink demons having a meeting there, planning to strike against you and mistress. There was one of us who was very cozy with their leader".**

**"Whom?"** Buffy asked. A light went off inside Jack's eyes.

**"Rosella, mistress Slayer. She told them about your babies, and the demons are very interested in having them. Rosella is supposed to kill us all but master Angelus".**

Buffy looked panicked. Angelus snapped his fingers. The other three vampires were in full game-faces.

**"Spike, Nate, Dan"**, he ordered; Buffy was shivering next to him. **"You go after Rosella. Jack, you can go too if you want to. Get rid of her. You're four and she's only one. I don't care how long it takes; you three have to reduce her to ashes. Now go!"**

With a brief nod, Spike, Nate and Dan left, with Jack behind them. Angelus dismissed a fledgling that dozed off lazily around, and turned to his lover. She was shaking, and her grip at Angelus' hand was so tight it would have cut his circulation, had he one. He scooped her in his arms and took her to their bedroom.

**"You fine, lover?" **He asked softly.

**"Why does she want to destroy us?"** Buffy asked in reply, her voice shaky and childish, wrapping her arms around herself, over Angelus' strong ones.

**"Because she's a bitch"**, he answered. **"Relax. Spike, Nate and Dan will take care of her".**

**"I want to leave"** It was her unexpected reply. **"Sunnydale no longer is safe for us. It's too dangerous for now and for the upcoming months. Rosella and her demonic friends, my mother and the gang… They won't just give up because we have two babies".**

**"And we won't either, lover. If we take off…"**

**"We have our son and daughter's safety and well-being to think about first, Angel"**, she told him.

Angelus had no argument against that. The three heartbeats thundered in his ears. They were his family, wife and two children, and it was his obligation to take care of them and make sure they were fine. He nodded slowly, and Buffy sighed loudly in relief, crushing his lips with hers with fiery passion.

**"I know where we can hide and be safe"**, she said after their kiss. Angelus was purring loudly, making her giggle. He glared.

**"Where?"**

**"Hummm… Galway, Ireland?"** She suggested hesitantly, and shivered when her lover pulled back; there were shock and surprise inside the chocolate irises. **"We'll be free there. They won't look for us in Ireland, supposing you wouldn't go back. Well, Angel wouldn't"**, she argued at his incredulous look.

He answered with a passionate kiss.

Spike walked in, followed by Drusilla – who was whining she wanted to go have 'fun with the bitch' too –, half an hour later. Buffy's nudity was safely hidden behind a thick satiny sheet.

**"Rosella put up a hell of a fight"**, the peroxide blond said, pointing at a healing cut on his forehead; his blue eyes were very interested in Buffy's golden, naked legs. Angelus growled throatily when he noticed Spike's appreciative glance at his mate and Drusilla, who was behind her lover, smacked his neck. **"Jack killed her though. First class, mate, we made a good choice by turning the boy".**

**"Poor Jack"**, Buffy whispered, knowing Jack had a crush on the vampire he had killed. She glared at Angelus and he nodded imperceptibly. She smiled cheekily.

**"Before I forget, Buff and I have an announcement to make"**, he said, and she squeezed his hand in reassurance. **"We're flying back to my homeland, Ireland. The four of us and the two of you. Nate, Jack, Dan and that girl Spike sired last night can come along if they feel like it"**, Buffy nuzzled at his neck.

**"When?"**

**"Tomorrow night"**, Buffy replied. **"I can have Willow to book us the seats. Can Dru go ask the guys if they wanna know Europe?"** Drusilla nodded. Buffy looked at her love. **"I bought you a cell-phone earlier this evening. Give it to me. I'll use it to call Willow".**

**"You sure you want me to do it? It's in my pants' pocket"**, he said, giving her a pointed look. An adorable blush crept up to her cheeks.

**"Oh, you're right; I'm sorry, honey. Spike, Dru, can you please…?"**

A giggle left Drusilla's lips, but Angelus' lips effectively shut her up, and the two vampires left.

* * *

The loud noise of the telephone ringing cut through the silence of the feminine bedroom like a knife, and made Willow lose her precarious focus. Groaning, the Wicca closed her trig book and threw it to the floor.

**"What?"** She barked into the receiver. There were a hesitant pause and the sound of someone breathing. **"I know you're there, I can you breath!"**

**"Uh… Hi, Wills".**

**"Buffy?"**

**"Yeah, it's me. How are you?"**

**"How do you think I am?"** Willow said icily. **"Never mind. What do you want?"**

**"Uh…" **A longer pause; Angelus squeezed her hand comfortingly. **"I need you to book eight seats for me in the earlier plane to Europe they have"**, Buffy sounded hurt, and Willow heard distinctively a soft growl.

**"You are with Angelus?"** The redhead asked disbelievingly. **"Are you crazy? He'll…"**

**"STOP IT, WILLOW!"** Buffy yelled. **"Just… Stop it, okay? There are these demons after my babies and, if anything happens to them, anything, I swear I'll come back from wherever I am so I can personally kill you!"**

Angry, the Slayer threw the shiny new phone against the wall, starting to sob as it broke into tiny pieces. Angelus took her in his arms, furious with the redhead and planning to put his extensive knowledge in the torture's arts to good use.

Four hours later, Angelus, Buffy, Spike, Drusilla, Nate, Jack, Dan and Anna were flying to Europe.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next In 'Children Of Darkness':** Not everything is roses in the life of a Slayer who is in love with a vampire, and Buffy confirms it when the Maetrink demons capture her.


	9. Strike Time!

**Last Time:** A conspiracy to get rid of Buffy and get her babies is discovered, and the slayer begs to Angelus so they leave Sunnydale. He gives in, but, before they leave, Buffy has a telephone discussion with Willow.

**Children Of Darkness**

**Ninth Chapter – Strike Time!**

**"It's so beautiful!" **Buffy exclaimed happily, with relaxed shoulders and a peaceful face. Angelus, his Slayer, Spike, Drusilla, Nate, Dan, Jack and Anna stood in front of the house where Angelus had spent his twenty-six years as Liam. **"Can we raise the babies here? It's so peaceful, calm and away from America!"**

Angelus smiled – not smirked, smiled – and kissed her head's top softly.

**"Of course, sweetheart. Now that we're safe and far from our enemies, we must pick a girly name. After all, we're naming the little guy after me" **Angelus opened the door with a curtsy. **"And voila!"**

**"Cocky, aren't we?"** Spike said with a grin. Anna and Drusilla giggled. Angelus glared.

**"I have a suggestion"**, Buffy said chewing her lower lip. That gesture told her fiancé how nervous she was. **"I say we name the little girl Katherine Alicia"**, she said and felt her love stiffen next to her. Her vampire family looked at her, openly dumbfounded. **"Anything wrong?"**

Angelus cleared his throat.

**"Katherine Alicia…" **he said as he made her walk in the house, **"was my sister's name. Are you sure you want to name her after her aunt?"**

Buffy nodded defiantly. Angelus smiled gently.

**"Katherine Alicia it is".**

_**

* * *

Four months later.**_

Almost nine months pregnant, Elizabeth Anne Summers was startled when she listened to her fiancé's soft growl. Since they had arrived in Ireland, she had assumed her real name and he hadn't growled. They were at the mall shopping stuff for their twins, something they loved to do.

**"What's wrong, baby?"** She asked her husband-to-be, putting her hand on his cheek.

**"Someone's watching us"**, Angelus answered. She tightened her grip on his hand.

**"Who? Oh, God, my mom?"**

**"Relax, love. Demon".**

The slayer froze. Her fiancé took her to the food-court; she was shaking with fear, nervousness clearly written on her face. Angelus sat down on a bench and made her sit on his lap. He started to purr in a low voice, knowing she loved the sound, and had learnt, as the pregnancy progressed, that it calmed the twins down.

**"Is it the powerplay demon?"**

**"Maetrink, Liz. And it probably is. Fuck!"** He hissed under his breath, with his eyes flashing a dangerous golden. Afraid that, in his anger, he could morph into game-face on the middle of the mall, Elizabeth cupped his cheek with her hand. The diamond ring he had given her as soon as they arrived in Ireland flashed under the indirect light.

**"How did it track us down?"**

**"I have no idea. Damn, damn, damn!"** He cradled her face with his hands. **"If something bad happen to you or the kids, I'll seek for revenge".**

**"I love you"**, she whispered.

**"Right back at ya".**

* * *

**"I found Angelus and the Slayer, master"**, the demon told the leader. **"The labor should happen in the next days".**

**"Does Angelus have any of his minions with him?"**

**"Yes"**, the creature said. **"He convoked the Master's children and has Spike, Drusilla, Dan, Nate, Jack, Jim and Anna with him".**

**"Fine. We'll strike next week".**

* * *

That night, Elizabeth and Angelus lay next to each other in their bed. Spike and Drusilla were out partying; Jack and Anna were probably hunting – they were now a couple – and Jim and Nate were in their shift as the house's guardians.

Anna had earlier told their mistress that she had had news of Joyce and Hank. She was fine, dating an artist, only regretting what she had said to her daughter. Hank was getting married in a few days, to a model named Danielle Cocteau.

**"What's wrong, Lizzie?"**

**"I need you to go to America and talk to my mother. Tell her how I am; tell her she'll be granny to twins. Tell her I'm happy. Tell her we built a stable family".**

**"Baby, why don't you go?"**

**"I can't. I'm underage. If I go, she'll keep me there. Besides, I have a sacred duty"**, she mimicked Giles' serious tone. **"If I go back, they won't let me come home".**

Angelus turned around to look at her. He knew she was happy with him, but the little fact that it was only between his equals that their love was accepted and respected hurt her. Their love being unwelcome around her friends and mother still stung.

He nodded briefly. She rewarded him with a bright smile.

**"Love you".**

**"Love you".**

* * *

When Angelus' and Spike's flight landed at LAX (AN: Los Angeles Airport), the dark-haired vampire instinctively sniffled the air, and let out a powerful growl. Buffy's vanilla scent, mingled with fear, was everywhere. His sensitive nose caught the slightest trace of the scent of a Maetrink demon.

**"William"**, he called, **"check for Drusilla's scent".**

Frowning slightly, the peroxide blond vampire sniffled around and growled softly. Drusilla's airy scent, as well as Buffy's fiery perfume, was splashed around. Buffy smelled like fear. Drusilla's scent was basically anger.

**"They brought Dru and your slayer to America, mate"**, Spike confirmed his grandsire's suspicions. **"Those bloody Maetrink things".**

Angelus' eyes flashed burgundy instead of the usual golden, and that was very rare. Angelus' ruby red eyes were making Spike nervous, but anxious to see how painful those demons' deaths would be.

**"Fuck!"** Angelus muttered. **"If they hurt Elizabeth, Katie or Liam, I swear they'll regret the day they agreed with the wacky plan of that Rosella bitch"**, he hissed angrily. **"You'll remember all my techniques".**

**"Where would those fools take the slayer?"** Spike asked aloud. A voice behind them, soft, dreamy and unusually upset, answered:

**"The hell mouth"**, Angelus and Spike whipped around, both partly relieved at the sight of Drusilla.

**"Ducks, I'm glad you're okay"**, Spike said as he slipped one arm around Drusilla's trim waist. Angelus took a deep breath and looked at the two lovers.

**"Can we go?"**

* * *

Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia were leaving the Bronze after an open microphone night when the well-known voice of the slayer reached their ears:

**"Somebody please help me!"**

Willow froze, as did Xander. Oz and Cordelia worriedly looked at each other and then at their loves. They knew the childhood friends hadn't digested well the news of Buffy's run away with Angelus, Spike and Drusilla.

Willow and Xander knew the helpless girl was Buffy, but couldn't believe it. She was gone for almost six months.

**"Oh, my God, that's Buffster!"** Cordelia exclaimed. She started to pull Xander towards the voice. The boy didn't move. Neither did Willow. **"Come on, guys, she needs help".**

**"It's not Buffy"**, the redhead said coolly. **"That poor girl is helpless. And Buffy's not helpless. Besides, she's with Angelus, God knows where".**

Cordelia looked incredulously at Willow. Her disbelief quickly turned into disgust as she marched towards the redhead and, before anyone could make a move to stop her, slapped Willow's face (AN: Go, Cordy!).

**"You selfish little bitch".**

* * *

**"If they took Elizabeth to good ole Hell Mouth, then…"** Angelus murmured to himself as he, Spike and Drusilla drove to Sunnydale. The two other vampires just looked at him. **"Oh, no. Fuck!"**

**"It's the only way to save your retired slayer and the brats she's carrying, mate"**, Spike remembered. Angelus knew that, and nodded, oh so slowly. He sped up.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Next Time In 'Children Of Darkness':** Angelus, Spike and Drusilla line up with Cordelia, Oz, Willow, Xander and Giles in order to rescue Buffy safely.


	10. Allies

**Last Time:** After finding out the conspiracy, Angelus, Buffy, Spike, Drusilla and their minions fly to Ireland. Buffy takes up to her real name, Elizabeth, and, close to the birth, is kidnapped with Drusilla. Spike and Angelus fly to California to save the women they love and Willow gets slapped.

**Children Of Darkness**

**Tenth Chapter – Allies**

Utterly shocked, Xander and Oz stared at Cordelia, whose nostrils were flaring angrily, not believing she had actually slapped Willow.

**"Why did you slap Will, Cordy?" **Xander asked in a whisper. Cordelia looked at him like he was dumb.

**"Because she's not willing to help the girl she claimed to be best friends with! You know that girl yelling for help is Buffy, don't deny it!" **She shook her index finger in front of Willow's face. **"We owe her for all the time she busted her ass to save us, as well as Angel!"**

**"Angel!" **Xander snorted. Cordelia glared mightily at him, and he stepped back, fearful she would slap him as well.

**"Angelus is not Angel"**, the brunette said in a hiss. **"You know it, Xander. We all do. And we must help Buffy. We behaved like a lot of old-fashioned people. I mean, this is the twentieth century, and seventeen-year-olds get pregnant every day, everywhere!" **She took a deep breath. The three friends stared at her surprised. **"It wasn't Angelus who took Buffy away from us"**, she added softly. **"We brushed her away".**

Willow and Xander looked down guiltily. Cordelia exchanged a look with Oz, who smirked at her, and she smirked back, having spoken what they both used to discuss when away from Willow and Xander. The two of them followed the voice, who still screamed in despair for help.

* * *

Angelus knew his invitation to Giles' and Joyce's houses was revoked, but, then Joyce couldn't – and wouldn't – help him, and it was deeply probable that the Watcher wasn't home. So, with Spike and Drusilla closely following him, the dark-haired vampire strolled in the library.

At the sight of the vampire who was the love of his former protégée and surrogate daughter, and murdered of the love of his life, Giles paled visibly.

**"Please don't kill me"**, Angelus said with awkward humbleness. Giles frowned at that. **"I need your help… To save Buffy".**

Giles widened his eyes but, before he could emit a reply, Cordelia and Oz burst in the library.

**"Giles!" **She yelled, panting. **"We must go now! Buffy is back and… Oh, Angelus, hey"**, she said more quietly. **"I know where she is. She is alive and okay, at the warehouse next to your mansion".**

**"Cordelia!" **Giles exclaimed with energy, having gotten his voice back. **"Are you out of your mind? And why are you saying we'll help him?" **The watcher shouted. Angelus spoke softly:

**"Because some Maetrink demons are interested in having our babies. That was the reason we left in first place, to protect Katy and Liam".**

**"Katy and Liam?" **Giles asked softly. Angelus looked at the door.

**"Katherine Alicia and Liam Angelus. Our twins".**

**"Where were you guys living all this time?" **Cordelia asked, her voice unexpectedly gentle. Angelus turned around to look at her, and she stepped back at the sight of his glowing red eyes and his fangs.

**"Can we play Twenty Questions later?" **He hissed.** "Each second lost here is a second we lose to save my woman's and my children's lives!" **Angelus growled. Spike put a hand on his grandsire's shoulder to hold him down.

**"Maybe we should call Will and Xander"**, Oz suggested coolly.

**"Yeah, maybe you bloody should"**, Spike shot back sarcastically.

Twenty minutes later, the two childhood friends walked in and thought the library's doors were the entrance to Twilight Zone. Cordelia, Giles, Angelus and Spike were bending over the table, studying something; meanwhile, Drusilla was humming softly to herself, sitting on a chair -- she, however, looked very serious and lucid.

Xander, of course, was the first to recover.** "What the hell is he doing here!" **He yelled pointing at Angelus. Cordelia lifted her eyes from the book she was researching on and explained:

**"Some very nasty, very organized demons kidnapped Bufffy, apparently to get her twins, since she's due to any day now".**

**"Twins?" **Willow asked shakily. Spike looked at the red-head coldly.

**"Katy and Liam. My siblings, and Dru's. Oh!" **He looked surprised.** "Why are you asking anyway? You don't care about them".**

**"William..." **Angelus growled warningly and muttered something to Giles, who nodded hesitantly and muttered something back. Unexpectedly, Drusilla let out an ear piercing scream and fell to the floor, clutching her head in her hands. The bleached blond vampire hurried to her side.

**"Pet, what did you see?" **He asked worriedly as he helped her up. She was shaking. Angelus had tensed near Giles, and the despair in his eyes reminded Giles of Angel's worry over Buffy out somewhere, fighting some big bad on her own.

**"Mummy, Spikey"**, the insane brunette said, leaning against her shoulder. **"I saw Mummy. The stars are talking to me... they say she's in danger..."**

**"Anything else, Dru?" **Angelus asked quietly. Drusilla looked at him.

**"Five big ugly demons. Trying to slice mummy's tummy..."**

**"That's enough, pet"**, Spike said as he noticed his grandsire's eyes flashing golden. Angelus closed his eyes and sighed. But his hold on the table top was so strong it broke with a loud crack. The noise echoing in the unusually quiet library made the scoobies and the watcher jump back.

The vampire whirled around, game face on. He stared hard at the four teenagers and the adult. **"Look. Frankly I don't give a damn about you and, if there weren't Buffy in the picture, you'd be probably dead by now. But you love her, and she loves you. Beat me why, but she does. Believe it or not, so do I. Now, you can help me get her out safe and still pregnant, or we go alone, and will all die, Spike, Dru, me, Buffy, the babies. Truce?"**

There was a heavy silence. Even Spike said nothing, more worried in whisper quiet nothings to Dru, who was crying and babbling incoherently about her mummy and mummy's babies. Then, Willow started to cry softly. Oz held her close, tight, while Xander opened Giles' weaponry cabinet, took a sword out of it...

... And handed it to Angelus.

* * *

Buffy's back and hips were hurting; her wrists were bloody because she had tried so desperately to loose the ropes that bound them. All she wanted was to go home, and she prayed fervently that her Angelus had figured out where the demons had brought her to, before said demons could put a filthy claw on her or on their babies.

Suddenly, a warm, tingly feeling nestled into her stomach, and the babies went back to their energetic kicking inside her womb. They had been quiet for quite a time, and Buffy knew why she was tingling and why the babies had started moving inside her.

The three of them always responded to Angelus' proximity.

She stifled a cry of relief as she felt a cold tongue licking her stained by blood skin, and the tingle that had been in her stomach went to run up and down her spine. **"Shh, baby"**, her lover's voice came from behind her, as she felt her wrists being freed by the ropes. Weakened by hunger, fear and concern, she fell heavily between his arms.

**"Thank God, thank God!" **She whispered, clutching him tightly to her. Her nostrils flared with that earthy, ivory scent, and she looked around, surprised to see the Scoobies fighting side by side with her tiny family. Angelus kissed her lips long, briefly and lovingly, and then went back to the battlefield, leaving her safely behind.

Distracted, Buffy never noticed the Maetrink demon that came stealthily very close to her, from behind, and made a large wound on her neck's back. The pain was sudden and excruciating; and Buffy let out a desperate cry:

**"Angelus!"**

* * *

Angelus had successfully managed to kill the Maetrink's bunch-leader and was looking out for more enemies, when his sensitive ears picked on the sound of flesh being cut open, and felt the sweet scent of Buffy's powerful Slayer-blood.

He ran to his fiancée's side and thrusted viciously the sword onto the neck of the demon that had dared to hurt his mate, killing it instantly. The demon fell into a puddle of lime-green demonic slime. Somewhat freaked out, Angelus took a growingly weak Buffy in his arms and left, letting out an inhuman whistle. The Scoobies covered their ears, but Spike and Drusilla recognized the noise at once and left.

Since all the demons were defeated, a blessed, deafening silence fell over the warehouse., and the Scoobies realized they were all by themselves. There was no sign of Buffy or of the three vampires she lived with.

Cordelia looked around, paled and then shrieked loudly, pointing at a puddle of bright red liquid next to a demon's corpse, which was covered in green goo.

**"I-Is t-that... h-human b-blood?"** Willow stuttered. Careful not to get his pants dirty, Giles kneeled next to the red puddle, touched it and then nodded very sadly.

Cordelia lost conscience, being tightly held by Xander, who was courageously trying not to start crying. Giles hastily wiped a lone tear away from his cheek. Willow cried hysterically, while Oz had a sad twinkle inside his soft, friendly blue eyes.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Next Time In 'Children Of Darkness':** While the Scoobies worry with Buffy's and the twins' safety, Spike, Drusilla and Angelus have a problem of their own: a gravely injured Buffy is in labor, and losing blood.


	11. Labor and Birth

**LAST TIME: ** Angelus gives the Scoobies a lecture, and they agree on team up with the dark-haired vampire, Spike and Drusilla to save Buffy. However, during the rescue, the slayer is hurt.

**CHILDREN OF DARKNESS**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN - LABOR AND BIRTH**

While the deeply exhausted Scoobies went over to their houses, extremely worried witg Buffy's and the babies' well being, the three vampires who were her new family had their hands full trying to help the injured slayer before something worse happened to her or to the babies she was expecting.

Angelus was growling softly, incessantly. He was applying pressure to the wound on Buffy's neck, and the blood loss had lessened considerably, but the vampire still worried. Her healing abilities were not working fully, all her body focused on keeping the twin fetuses safe and well.

Spike and Drusilla exchanged a brief look and she nodded, her usually insane face clouded with lucid worry.

**"Mate"**, the peroxide blond approached his dark-haired grandsire cautiously. Angelus was worried, upset, nervous, irritated - and to piss him off even more would be a stupid move. **"You have to check the slayer in a hospital soon"**, he suggested. **"She could use a transfusion".**

**"No!" **Buffy cut in with a scream.** "Don't you dare!"**

**"Baby..." **Angelus began, but a glare from Buffy shut him up effectively. Drusilla licked softly the tender flesh around the wound and said:

**"The healing process began"**. There was relief in her voice. Angelus sighed happily, and placed Buffy's upper body over his thighs, tensing up when he felt her stiffening, and pain etched on her beautiful face.

Drusilla approached the slayer carefully, sprawled her legs wide open and respectfully touched her vagina channel. Her blue eyes grew wide as he felt how dilated she already was.

**"Oh, no"**, she whispered, leaning forward and whispering something in Spike's ear. Focusing on Buffy, her sire failed to hear her.

**"Oh, hell!" **Spike groaned. Angelus looked up, Buffy slightly relaxed between his legs.

**"What?" **He asked, Buffy sweating heavily, her cold sweat wettening his trousers. Spike looked at Drusilla, who had a terrified expression on her face, but then a metamorphosis took place on her. She looked more sane than ever.

**"The labor began, hence the contractions"**, she said as she crawled next to the slayer. **"But calm down, both of you. She's pretty dilacted, it won't take long before we have the babies here with us. Mummy, when a contraction hit home, push as hard as you can".**

Having paid close attention to the brunette vampire's words, Buffy nodded wearily. Another contraction doubled her over, five minutes later, and she pushed, putting all her might in it. Angelus' cool hand was firmly entwined with her own, and she held it so tightly, his bones would have broken, if he were a normal man.

**"Okay, deep breaths now. In, out, in, out, mummy. You're doing great!"** Drusilla complimented, as Spike watched her in rapt passion. She looked almost normal now, with the long black locks falling down her back, the tip of her tongue appearing on a corner of her mouth as she focused.

Buffy screamed when she felt another pain; the contractions came faster, stronger now. She panted, her hair sticking to her forehead, neck and cheeks. Angelus was cool against her back, his fingers caressing her palm softly as she gripped his hand hard.

Three or four contractions later, Drusilla looked up, her blue eyes sparkling. **"I can see the top of a little head. Now, you have to push like never before, once or twice, and we'll have a beautiful baby here with us!"**

After a few minutes, Buffy did as said, screaming powerfully as she pushed down, feeling exhaustion creep up her body. The long wail of a baby could be heard, and Spike had tears in his eyes, as Drusilla let out a noise of triumph. She put a little baby on Buffy's swollen stomach.

**"It's a girl!" **She screamed happily. And it really was. Katherine Alicia Summers-O'Connell had been born, a little girl with white skin, thick black hair and blue eyes. Her parents looked tearfully at her, then at each other, exchanging a big grin. Angelus leaned down, his lips meeting Buffy's sweetly, swallowing her scream as Mother Nature warned her she still had a baby to give birth to.

However, the contractions seemed more bearable now, as she opened her eyes to look the young, innocent face of her little princess. **"Look at her, baby"**, she whispered to Angelus. **"She's so pretty".**

**"She is"**, he whispered back. **"Our baby".**

Willow knocked politely at the Summers' house at 1630 Revello Drive, and Joyce opened it up. But it was a different Joyce, and Willow gasped, shocked to see how much Joyce had aged only five months after Buffy's run-away with Angelus, Spike and Drusilla.

**"Yes, Willow?" **The gallery's owner asked impatiently, once the Wiccan didn't say anything. She didn't want to see Willow. The teenager reminded her of her little girl, who had run away with that monster.

Willow nervously cleared her throat.** "Uh, hi, Mrs. Summers. May I come in? I have news for you. From Buffy".**

Joyce's eyes lit up and she gulped anxiously. Willow shifted uneasily as the woman stepped back and gave her passage, the older woman's hopes threatening to crush her.

Once they were seated at the darkened living room, both having cups of tea in front of them, Willow cleared her throat again and said,** "Buffy called me last night. She asked me to give you an update on how she is"**. She made a pause as she sipped from her mint tea.** "She and Angelus are married now, and expecting twins"**, she said quietly.** "She's nine months now, the children are due to any day soon. It's twins, a little boy and a little girl. They're naming the babies Katherine Alicia and Liam Angelus".**

**"Where is my daughter?"** Joyce inquired.

**"Somewhere in Europe. I don't know exactly where; she was very busy and our conversation was really quick. Buffy had a doctor's appointment and was on the waiting room, waiting for her turn. It was her last before the babies' birth".**

Joyce's hopeful expression fell.

Angelus was a proud father. His babies with his little slayer were so beautiful. And, as a new father, he was the only one awake in the mansion. Drusilla and Buffy were asleep, both females exhausted. A miracle had taken place in the old mansion, built with rocks: somehow, the Powers intervened, and Buffy's supernatural abilities had kicked in, healing her, as she gave birth to Liam Angelus.

Spike was out, buying blood at Willy's. Angelus was sure his peroxide blond grandchild would spike his meal with something alcoholic to celebrate the twins' birth, but he couldn't care less. In fact, he hoped Spike brought home a bottle of Irish whiskey, so he could celebrate as well.

Buffy sighed and snuggled deeper into his body. Angelus smiled and looked at the twins, who were napping soundly on his chest, having been lulled to sleep by their daddy's deep purr. His little princess had long, silky black hair, dark blue eyes and fleshy red lips. Liam Angelus Summers-O'Connell was a little copy of his father, including the chocolate brown pools Buffy loved so much.

Katherine moved her cute little hand and opened her beautiful eyes, staring right in Angelus'. He lifted up a finger and ran its tip on her cheek, and the baby gripped it, squeezing it strongly. Then, she yawned and went back to sleep. Her grip on Angelus' finger never loosened.

It was thanks to the Powers that Spike decided to stop at the high-school library to tell the Slayer's dumb friends that she was a mother already. The peroxide blond was about to open the swing doors and walk in the library, when his sensitive nose picked a female voice speaking inside.

**"I believe we should try and recurse Angel. It'll be safer for Buffy and her babies"**, the woman - who Spike recognized as being the Slayer's friend, the red head - said. Spike held back an urge to laugh. Now, if only they knew... Dru had told Spike about Angel's stop-by.

There were then noises of agreement, and a male voice - Spike knew it, it was the watcher - spoke up, **"So it's settled. Willow and I will perform the spell tomorrow night at this same hour. Hopefully, they won't be gone by then, so we get to keep both Buffy and Angelus around".**

Spike then dissolved back in the shadows and hurried back to the mansion. When at home, he sought Angelus sleeping soundly, the babies on his chest, the Slayer by his side. Spike then cautiously stepped closer to his grandsire, took the kids off his chest and put then on an open blanket right by his side. Then, he started to poke Angelus on the ribs.

**"Angelus, you need to wake up!"** He said hurriedly. **"Come on, mate, wake up!"**

Angelus growled. **"What's it, William?"** Then he noticed that the soft heat coming from his children's bodies was gone. **"Where are my babies?"**

**"Calm down, mate, they're right here"**, Spike replied. **"Are you awake? There's stuff you need to know".**

**"What's it?"** Angelus said as he slowly disentangled himself from Buffy's embrace. She whimpered, so he entwined his fingers with hers, and sat up.

**"Your Slayer's bloody friends want to shove your soul back in".**

**"What?"**

**"You heard me, Angelus! Don't play dumb!"**

**"Hell!"** Angelus got up and started pacing around. **"When?"**

**"Tomorrow about this time"**, Spike told his grandsire.

**"Okay. Here's the plan. When Buffy wakes up, you tell her every little thing you eavesdropped and then she'll decide what she'll do".**

**"She'll do?"** Spike raised an eyebrow.

**"I can't do anything to them, William, otherwise she'll stake me. And I like being in one piece, you know? Now go".**

Buffy smiled as the soft, sweet warmth of two tiny bodies invaded her fuzzy with sleep's mind. Then she could hear a soft purr, and felt a hand tracing patterns on her once-again flat stomach.

She opened her eyes and met two pairs of eyes - one dark blue, like night sky, and other chocolate brown, like she knew and loved so badly. Her own eyes filled with happy tears.

**"My babies... Oh, they're just so beautifully cute!"** She gushed and looked at Angelus. **"How were we able to conceive such a miracle?"**

**"Well, you know... We made it the night you turned seventeen..."** He teased, chuckling as she blushed crimson red. Giggling, she smacked his arm lightly.

**"Stop it! You know what I meant!" **She giggled a little more. **"It's just... We believed you - better yet, Angel - couldn't have babies".**

**"I remember"**, he said softly, recalling the conversation she had with Soul Boy at the cemetery around the time she had the egg project in school. **"I don't know, honey"**, Angelus then added sincerely. **"But, well, a big bad vampire like me shouldn't die without a heir, don't you think?"**

She laughed and kissed him. **"I love you"**, she then added.

He smiled cockily. **"Who doesn't?"**

Spike then walked in. **"Hey, slayer. Glad to see you're already up".**

**"William, help Dru to take the kids upstairs to our old room and then come back down here"**, Angelus ordered. Snickering, Spike obeyed, and Dru followed her, cooing at Kathy. Once the bleached blond was back, Angelus then said, **"Now tell Buffy what you heard at the library".**

Buffy looked curiously at Angelus, noticing the seriousness in his voice. **"What's wrong? Angelus, why didn't you keep the babies here?"**

He smirked affectionately at her. **"Relax, okay? Just listen".**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Next Time:** Buffy makes a decision that will change her and the Scoobies' lives forever.


	12. Decisions

**Last Time:** Katherine Alicia and Liam Angelus are born! YAY! However, the Scoobies decide to restore Angelus' soul, but the Powers intervene and Spike eavesdrops.

**Author's Notes: **Please don't hate meeee! PLEASE!

**Children Of Darkness**

**Chapter Twelve – Decisions**

"**They what!"** Buffy yelled, as she jumped up. Her body had already healed from the labor and birth, and she was once again slim and beautiful - not that Angelus considered her ugly while heavy with his children.

Being tightly connected with her, Angelus could sense the traces of panic in her eyes. Spike, in front of them, nodded quietly. **"You heard me right, Slayer"**, he confirmed. **"Your so-called bloody friends want to bring the Poof back and soon".**

"**But they can't do so! He'll leave me! He'll leave us! He will!"** She yelled, fully panicked, and whirled around to look at Angelus. **"I can't be left alone with his babies..."**

"**They're my babies, and if they succeed - which they won't - I'll make Soul Boy's existence a living Hell"**, he said, putting a soothing hand on her back. **"Baby, you're the only one they'll listen to"**, Angelus said as he pulled her to his lap. His voice held a sweetness Spike didn't know he could feel. **"But don't worry, lover. You'll have back up".**

"**How?"**

"**I have this little plan..."**

After he told her his plan, she reflected over it. It was her only choice, their only choice. If she didn't do that, Angel would come back and would leave her with two babies (one that was just like him).

"**Okay"**, she agreed shakily, her whole body trembling. They couldn't put the soul back in place. She never forgot how Angel had tried to tell Angelus to go away while she still expected their twins. She would never forget. Angel could never come back.

Coolly, Buffy reached out for Angelus' cell phone, dialed a mumber and waited.

"**Hello?"** Willow's voice rang perkily in Buffy's ears.

"**Hey, Wills. It's me"**.

Relief filled Willow. **"Buffy! Oh, thank goodness! Areyou okay? We were so worried! Angelus and you and Spike and Dru simply vanished, and then there was that big puddle of human blood..."**

"**Willow..."**

"**... But how are you? And the babies? Are you fine? Damn, I have so much to tell you!"**

"**WILLOW!"** Buffy yelled.

"**Yes?"**

"**Willow, I'm cool. The babies are cool too" **_More than you'll ever know. _**"Look, can you do me something?"**

"**Yeah, of course!"**

"**Call Giles, Xander and Cordelia and get them to meet me at the library tonight at dusk. You and Oz tail along, okay?"**

"**Sure. Will be done".**

Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and Giles were all reunited on the library, the five of them waiting anxiously for their missing fearless pregnant leader's arrival. When she did, however, her friends were shocked.

The Slayer looked breathtakingly beautiful, hot and ready for a fight. She dressed a low-cut black leather pair of tight pants and a silk red top. Her long, dark blonde hair (she had stopped lightening it when found out she was going to be a mother) was tied back on a ponytail, but some strands escaped their prison and fell loosely on her cheeks, framing her tanned face.

However, what shocked the remaining Scoobies the most was the absence of Buffy's grown stomach.

Willow approached her best friend, enveloping the Slayer on a big hug. **"Oh, thank goddess you're fine! We were so worried!"** She exclaimed.

Cordelia approached the two females. **"Hey, Buff. Where's the beachball?"** She asked pointing at Buffy's flat abs.

"**Oh, Katie and Liam are at home"**, the blonde replied.

"**Your mom is looking after them?"** Willow asked. Buffy shook her head negatively.

"**Actually, Dru is"**, she looked around; her eyes fell and settled on a big glassy orb on the middle of the long library's table. Giles noticed what she was looking at and hurried to explain:

"**This is the Orb of Thessulah. I think Willow hasn't told you we will put Angel's soul back".**

"**No, she has not"**, Buffy replied, slowly approaching the table. Giles sat down.

"**We will. I think that, now that your babies are born, you are coming back home, aren't you?"**

"**Maybe"**, she said as she ran a long nail over the orb. **"Maybe not. We'll see".**

"**Well, anyway..."** Giles continued even if he thought his Slayer's behavior was strange. **"... With Angel back, you can come back home. This way, your kids will have a family".**

"**They already do"**, she added as she uncarefully lifted the light orb from its place on the middle of the table. Giles paled.

"**Buffy, be careful".**

"**Angel's soul?"** Buffy said, her eyes fixed on the orb. **"This breakable thing is gonna really bring back Angel's soul?"**

"**Yes, hopefully it will"**, Willow said. **"Isn't that great?"**

"**No, it's not"**, the Slayer said as she threw the Orb on the wall, crashing it in million pieces and smiling at the sound of broken glass. A collective gasp rang loudly in the library. Willow, Xander, Cordelia and Giles turned around to look at Buffy, their faces full with shock and disbelief.

Xander was, of course, the first one to recover. Crossing the distance between where he was and where Buffy stood, he put his hands on her shoulder and started shaking her.

Hidden behind the swing doors, Angelus growled softly but dangerously. Spike, who was accompanying him, put a hand on his shoulder, but knowing fully well it wasn't going to hold the dark-haired vampire down if he lost his temper (which was very likely to happen if the dumb boy kept shaking the Slayer).

"**Are you insane!"** Xander yelled, still shaking Buffy. **"Have you lost your fucking mind? He'll kill your children..."**

"**Xander..."**

"**... And he'll kill you!"**

"**XANDER!"** She yelled. **"Shut your hell-hole up, let go off me and back off before I do something I'm sure I won't regret, but you surely will!"** She threatened.

"**Oh, yeah!"** Xander shot back, his voice challengingly sarcastic. **"What?"**

Buffy looked down for a moment and, when she looked up, all her 'friends' backed away from her, horrified. She had a game face on. Willow felt tears burning behind her eyelids.

"**This"**, she said through fangs.

"**When did he turn you?"** Giles asked, his voice full of pain.

"**He didn't"**, she replied coolly, her face shifting back to its usual smooth features. **"I just drank a little blood of his, and he, a little of mine. Now, back to business"**, she started pacing around. **"Do not recurse Angelus. Do not bring Angel back. If you do, he'll leave me first chance he gets".**

"**Angel loves you. He'd never leave you"**, Willow said.

"**Yes, he will. He tried to convince Angelus to go away when I was four months pregnant".**

"**And Angelus told you that?"** Willow said sarcastically. **"No, we're recursing Angel's soul and that's final".**

"**Then please, forgive me"**, she added in a small, pleading voice. **"Send them in!"** She then yelled loudly. Many vamps rshed in the library. The Scoobies jumped up, startled. The vampires kneeled as their mistress walked past them, towards the doors.

Angelus held her close to his body when she came to him, crying softly. He hated those fucking, stupid fools with deep, burning passion, because they had made his mate cry.

"**I did what I needed to do"**, she said suddenly, wiping her tearstained face. **"I protected us. I protected our family".**

"**That you did"**, he said proudly. Then, his eyes softened. **"It's fine to cry, my love"**. He comforted her. She looked at him, so beautiful, so sweet, so powerful, and forgot everyone but them, their family and their love.

"**Come on, vamp love. Back home"**, she said, tugging at his hand.

Later, Spike and Drusilla talked quietly on their seats, amongst themselves, while Angelus and Buffy busied themselves with the babies. Katherine Alicia slept peacefully between her daddy's strong arms, while Buffy breastfed Liam. Her fiancé eyed her breast appreciatively.

"**Goodbye, America"**, the former slayer, new mother, whispered happily. **"You'll never hear of Elizabeth and Angelus again!"**

"**Is it a promise?"** Angelus purred, cautiously running a finger over the golden skin of her naked breast.

"**No"**, she said breathlessly, leaning to breathe against his cool lips. **"It's a guarantee".**

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Next Time In 'Children Of Darkness':** The mystery of Buffy's pregnancy is revealed, as Katherine Alicia and Liam travel from Ireland to the good ole Hellmouth to fulfill their destiny.


	13. It's All In A Prophecy

**Author's Note:** Oh My God! It's a miracle: I'm putting an end to my greatest delay ever! I am so sorry, but my life's been wild this year and so that I've been missing.

To make it up to you, here you have my shiny new chapter. There's only one plus the prologue left to the end!

**Children of Darkness**

**Chapter 12: ****It's all In a Prophecy**

As her husband softly snored by her side, soundly asleep and with an arm wrapped lazily around her not-so-slim waist, Willow Elizabeth Harris stared sadly at the calendar sitting on her night table. Every year, on that exact day, sadness filled her heart, unstoppable and untamable. Fifteen years...

It had been fifteen years, to the day, since she had last seen or heard of her best teenage friend. Fifteen years since this so called best friend sent vampires in their high school library to kill her and the people she grew to call her family, so they couldn't glue back the soul on her vampire lover.

After that fateful day, Willow was so traumatized she never even considered trying the spell. Giles's powers were too short for him to try and cast the spell by himself. He tried to convince Willow to help him, but she was too terrified of what Buffy would do if they recursed Angelus. A few weeks later, during their winter break, Oz was brutally murdered, and a mournful Willow completely shut her powers off.

The red-head quietly reflected at the road her and her friends' lives had gone down since Buffy had fled Sunnydale. Xander cheated on Cordelia with Anya, a very strange girl who later turned out to be the mortal self of Anyanka, a very ancient vengeance demon. They went out for a few months, but Anya ditched Xander later that same year and left town.

Since they were both single and without a date prospect, Xander gallantly offered to take a still grieving Willow to the prom, as friends, he quickly added in response to her shocked expression. She thankfully said yes, and, surprisingly, they had fun together. Slowly they turned their friendship to a romantic relationship and, two years after that first prom date, they got married.

Giles called Kendra up to take over the slaying, then retired. The Watcher's Council sent a newly-graduated watcher to replace him, a young, stiff British named Wesley Whyndham-Pryce, who fell in love with Cordelia the minute he laid eyes on her for the first time.

Devastated over Xander's betrayal, Queen C accepted Wesley's affections – at first coldly, then slowly warming up to him. They married eight years previously, with Cordelia giving up her pretensions to be an actress to be a full-time mom to their son Colin.

Willow sighed. Fifteen years…

* * *

Somewhere in the lush green countryside of Ireland, Elizabeth Anne Summers-O'Connell felt the first seeds of full consciousness creeping up into her brain. With a sleepy grunt, she rolled over and reached out for the space by her side on the bed. She suspiciously opened her eyes as her fingers brushed the cold dent on the mattress, the place where her lover was supposed to be. Her husband wasn't there, but she hasn't heard their younger son crying in his sleep, so it hadn't been their baby boy who had woken him up. 

A high pitched, terrified scream cut through the quietness of the house. Elizabeth was out of the bed and down the stairs between two beats of her panicked heart. Her body slammed into a cool wall of muscle, and one of her husband's strong arms sneaked around her waist to hold her upright before she fell on her butt, and she desperately clung to him as she tried to regain her balance.

The couple felt a petite body shakily clinging at their legs, and Elizabeth looked down to stare right into the tearful dark blue eyes of her younger daughter. Kneeling, she took Annabelle in her arms. **"Hey there, sweetheart"**, she whispered, her voice soft, smooth and pacifying. **"What's wrong?"**

The five-year-old shakily pointed to a tall boy in the middle of the library, hiding her face in her mother's neck. **"Liam's been tellin' me scary stories, mama!"** She said, her voice thick with the Irish accent the whole family had gotten since they moved in there, when the older children were only days old.

Angelus glared at his older son, who was giving his best to look innocent. **"How many times do we need to tell you not to read our books to your younger siblings, lad?"** He said, his voice low and dangerous. Elizabeth walked out of the library, leaving father and son together, and still trying to calm down the thunderous heart of Alexis.

The boy snorted indelicately. **"When me and Kat were of her age, we already knew all you had done at your worst days, dad"**, he said, with the petulance only teenage boys could have. Angelus sighed, exasperated, and thought once again if he had behaved like that towards his own father. _Probably yes_, he always concluded.

A tall girl, with dark green eyes and long, wavy brown hair, walked in the library, her smooth voice cutting swiftly through the air. **"And we used to have nightmares after Spike told us those. Hey, dad"**, she said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss her father's cheek. He gave her cheek the same caring treatment, and his daughter moved towards the couch.

**"Morning, baby girl"**, he frowned slightly at her. **"Where's Andrew?"** He asked.

**"Mom is at the playroom with him, trying to calm Annabelle down"**, she said, shrugging.

**"Right"**, Angelus turned to Liam once again.** "So, what were you reading to Annie?"**

**"The Codex"**, Liam said shrugging. Angelus glared mightily at him.

**"The Codex?"** He growled.

**"Yeah, you see, there's this very interesting piece of prophecy right here, and I thought Annie might find it entertaining"**, Liam said honestly. **"It was nothing highly detailed, dad, just a crap of cryptic poem".**

**"You mean, another piece of crappy, cryptic poetry"**, his sister said, rolling her eyes. The beautiful girl approached him and read the said poem, confusion coloring her eyes as she took it in.** "Dad, can you read it? It's… slightly freaky"**, she asked, a slight note of concern and panic under the soft firmness of her voice.

Angelus nodded silently, approaching his oldest children. As he read, he felt a chill creeping up in his spine. His voice was low and tinged with a slight fear when he told his twins, **"Go call your mom. Now".**

**"What's wrong, daddy?"** Katherine asked. She had never seen their usually collected father so upset before, and this scared her more than she would ever admit.

**"Go now!"** He said, urgently. Liam bolted out the library, towards the playroom.

* * *

Wesley Whyndham-Pryce smiled at his friend and colleague when she walked in the library, the usually warm, friendly brown eyes tired and sad. **"Good morning, Willow"**, he said quietly, in the calm tone of voice he had since the first day they met. 

**"Hey, Wes"**, she answered, her voice neutral and low. **"So, you've got to finish translating that prophecy?"** The red-head asked, knowing he had noticed she wasn't her normal, cheery self today.

Wesley had indeed noticed something was wrong with his colleague. His wife was behaving a little strangely as well – in fact she behaved strangely every year exactly on this day. He once asked what there was in that day that upset her so much, but she simply looked at him, with her beautiful brown eyes full of tears, and begged him not to ask her that. He obeyed.

**"In fact I have"**, he said, focusing into business. He fiddled with some papers, sorting through them, and then passed an immaculate sheet to Willow. **"Here. I printed it up to you".**

Willow nodded slightly and lowered her eyes to the paper. As she read, her eyes widened more and more, and she lost what slight blood there was left in her cheeks. As she finished reading, she was deathly pale, and Wesley was worriedly staring at her.

**"Willow? What's wrong?"**

* * *

Elizabeth bolted in the library, hurriedly followed by her son, who had gone to call her. Liam had told her Angelus had read something that upset him to the core, and this got her very worried. Angelus was her rock for more than sixteen years now, and never once had he lost his cool. It would have to be something very big to get him out of his usual self. 

**"Angel?"** She whispered, approaching her husband. Her voice was slightly shaky as she stood in front of him and looked into the chocolaty brown depths of his eyes. **"What's it?"** She asked, with a quiet, fearful voice.

He took her hand in his and shoved gently the Codex towards hers, his eyes never once leaving her face.

**"Read it"**, he whispered. And, as their confused oldest children stared, she read.

_Skies cry as Light and Dark join_

_And a miracle shall happen_

_Together they shall conceive a miracle_

_Two lives, male and female_

_And fifteen springs shall come to pass_

_Before the two lives take over their role_

_To ensure the world's safety…_

**"NO!"** Elizabeth screamed. This could _not_ be happening. Not with her, not with her beautiful baby twins. Fate was a bitch, but why had she been picked?

Desperate and in denial, the thirty-three-year-old roughly shoved the book away from her, and turned to stare at her husband, the dark grey eyes full of tears. **"Tell me it's a lie!"** She yelled. **"TELL ME IT'S A LIE, ANGEL!"** She repeated, her voice cracking as she launched herself into the comfortable haven of his arms. **"It has to be a lie!"** She whispered fervently.

Angelus hugged her tightly, letting her tears soak his shirt. **"I'm sorry, baby"**, he whispered quietly. **"I'm so sorry for this. You know I am. But I can't do it for you. I can't say this is not true. I can't this won't happen. You know it will – we've known all along they were special".**

**"I don't want this uniqueness for them! They're… They're too young!"** Elizabeth said desperately, clinging to him. Her eyes begged him to wipe the words out, but it was too late.

Their past as fighters for Good had caught up with them – and now, their twins were on the front line.

* * *

Wesley gently shook Willow's shoulder. **"Willow? Willow, snap out of it"**, he commanded, his voice still polite, smooth. She blinked at him, twice, still pale.

**"Hum? What?"** She asked.

**"You lost track of space right then"**, he said with a smile. **"After you read the prophecy"**. He scrunched up his nose, in wonder. **"Did you make sense out of it at all?"**

**"As a matter of fact, I did"**, she said quietly. **"But first I need to talk to Cordy and Xander. Can you call her and ask her to please come here? I know Xan is somewhere in the school, talking with one of Kylie's teachers".**

**"Fine"**, Wesley answered, and walked into the small office. He took the phone and dialed, and waited for the other line to ring twice before someone picked it up. **"Darling? It's me. Look, Willow's in need to talk with you. As in now. Okay. Me too. See you soon".**

A short time later, Cordelia Christine Chase-Pryce walked in, still looking slim and graceful as she had looked when in high school. She smiled at Willow, and the two women shared a look, as the weight of this day settled on their shoulders. They had a past, a shared past, tainted by something so horrifying, they were sure it would haunt them for as long as they lived.

**"Will"**, Cordelia embraced her long time friend. **"You're looking great".**

**"So are you, Cordy"**, Willow replied, hugging her friend back. They stood into each other's arms a second longer, and the redhead had to bit the inside of her cheek to keep her tears at bay.

Cordelia let go of Willow and greeted her husband with a peck on her cheek. She sat down on a chair by the old oak table, and stared curiously up at Willow. **"Wes said you have something to tell me, Will?"** She asked, straightforward as ever.

Willow hesitantly bit her lower lip, saying, **"Cordy, hold your horses. Xander will be here in some minutes. I'd rather not have to repeat this story more than once".**

**"Then go ahead"**, Xander's voice came, deep and quiet, from the door, and three heads rotated sharply towards that direction. He smiled and nodded at Wesley, kissed Cordelia's cheek and pecked Willow's lips quickly.

The two women shared a look. Every year that same day, Xander, never one to publicly show too much affection, became slightly more desperate for physical touch, and so they gave in to his wishes whenever he kissed or hugged them. Xander stopped behind Willow, wrapping an arm around her waist. **"What's up, Will?"**

She cleared her throat nervously. **"Wes here has finished translating the prophecy we found some years ago"**, she told her husband and their friends. The former lovers exchanged a bored look, but Xander stiffened as he noticed the urgency shining inside his wife's usually calm eyes. There was something else in this _prophecy_ that was upsetting Willow, and it had to be something grand.

Cordelia, however, had matured but hadn't lost some of her teenage tactlessness. **"So he did. Big deal. Why did you call us here, Willow? Don't beat around the bush".**

Willow cleared her throat once again, nervous and anxious, as she caught the old book and read the translation aloud.

_Skies cry as Light and Dark join_

_And a miracle shall happen_

_Together they shall conceive a miracle_

_Two lives, male and female_

_And fifteen springs shall come to pass_

_Before the two lives take over their role_

_To ensure the world's safety…_

**"Stop!"** Cordelia shot up, with her posture stiff and rigid. However, the pain in her eyes was raw and thick, and she started trembling. **"Tell me this is wrongly translated, Will"**, she asked her friend, and Willow stared at her, her eyes sad and depressed.

She shook her head negatively. Cordelia groaned. **"It's been fifteen years, Will. Why after all this time, they would come back?"**

Willow had no idea what to say, but the silence that followed was broken by the sudden slam of Xander's fist against the hard wood of the tabletop. **"It's not fair. We've been busting our asses to protect the Hellmouth while they hide God knows where. Now they come back and play hero?"**

**"It's not them, Xand"**, Willow whispered, her voice small and fragile. He looked lost for a minute.

**"Not them? Then who…?"**

**"Their twins"**, Cordelia whispered. **"Liam and Katherine"**, she added.

**"Excuse me"**, Wesley said, intruding in their blast-from-the-past moment, **"But who are you talking about?"**

**"Buffy Summers"**, Willow whispered, and shuddered as she spoke aloud the name of the girl whose face has been haunting her dreams every night for the last fifteen years.

**"And Angelus"**, Cordelia added, just as softly.

* * *

**"Excuse me"**, Katherine said softly, interrupting her mother's tearful moment with her father. She could see how distressed Elizabeth was, and this frightened her deeply. Her mother was so brave, that this moment was totally terrifying for the fifteen-year-old. **"But, mom..."**

**"What the heck are ya talking about, mum?!" **Liam interrupted his twin, and she glared at him. She was trying for finesse here, and that dumbass of a brother she had wasn't exactly helping. **"What are we too young to do? We're fifteen, ya know?"**

Angelus sighed and led his wife to a couch silently. She was still shaking slightly, and he soothingly ran a hand on her back, trying to calm her down. **"It's going to be okay"**, he whispered to her. **"I promise. They're so strong, Liz. So much stronger than we ever were".**

**"Oh the perks of being the child of a retired slayer and a souless vampire"**, Elizabeth shot back sarcastically, and Angelus chuckled.

**"If I recall right, I was in full possession of a soul when we conceived the little ones"**.

She grinned at him, but then Katherine interrupted once again.

**"Mum? Dad?"** She then felt Liam opening up his mouth and turned sharply to stare at him. **"You shut up"**, she hissed in Gaelic, smiling up at her father when she heard him chuckle. Angelus often spoke in his mother language, and his curious older children begged him, at young age of five, to be taught that weird, different language.

When it had been only Liam asking, he had resisted. But once Katherine joined her brother, Angelus knew he was doomed. He loved both his twins equally, but there was something in Katherine that drew him irresistibly towards her. So, when she batted her eyelashes and gave her daddy a big pout, Angelus, The Scourge of Europe, gave in almost instantly.

Liam scowled at his sister but obeyed her, knowing fully well she would be hell to deal with if he didn't. Katherine then turned to their parents. **"I'm sorry, but what are you guys talking about?"**

Elizabeth gave a deep sigh. She had never told her kids about how she had met Angelus - actually, she had never said to any of her babies that their daddy had had a soul once. Thinking of _Angel_ brought back all the memories, and she stared at her husband with an unspoken question cutting through the adoration shining clearly in her eyes. He smiled at her - knowing fully well that she was thinking about his souled version - and nodded gently. **"I'll keep an eye on the babies"**, he whispered, kissed her forehead, got up and left the library.

Liam and Kat exchanged a confused glance, but sat down by their mother, and, as soon as the library door closed behind Angelus's tall, lean form, Elizabeth breathed deeply and started her story. **"It all began when I was sixteen..."**

TBC


	14. Twins In Town

**Author's Note:** To my oh-so-faithful readers, here you have the new chapter. And it saddens me deeply that this story is coming to the end. I've had so much fun writing it.

**Children of Darkness**

**Chapter 13**

**Twins in Town**

By the time their mother had finished telling her tale Katherine and Liam were perplexed, to say the least. Their father – whose greatest pride was to have been called, once, the Scourge of Europe, the most ruthless vampire to ever exist – had been in possession of a soul for almost a century until they were conceived? It almost made no sense. How could someone shove a soul back on the most powerful vampire that had ever crossed Europe?

**"Suddenly, many things make so much sense"**, Katherine was the first to break the silence, her words weighing in the quietness. Elizabeth smiled at her child.

**"What are you talking about?"** A confused Liam asked his twin. He was stronger than her, but sometimes she was brighter, and now was one of those times. **"Da having a soul seems complete bullshit to me".**

**"Why do you think mom calls daddy _Angel_, Liam, when his name is _Angelus_?"** Katherine asked, exasperated. She loved her brother, she really did, but sometimes he could be so dense.

**"I don't know. Maybe because Angelus is too long a name".**

**"No, you idiot. It's because daddy answered for Angel once he was with his soul, right, mom?"**

Elizabeth smiled. **"Yes, baby"**, she sighed. **"He did. But your daddy when in possession of a soul can be slightly… hum…"** She paused, searching for the right word. **"… Stupid. Once Angel realized I was actually pregnant, he tried to convince Angelus to leave town, and us, behind".**

Katherine squeaked in shock and Liam widened his eyes.

**"What a bloke. So, what are we supposed to do?"** Liam changed topics quickly. He didn't want to imagine how his life, and his sister's and mother's, would have been if his father wasn't around. Liam adored his father, and the thought of him not being there for him, his mother and his siblings had the power of making him physically ill.

**"You two were conceived on a rainy night. So, that prophecy is talking about the two of you. You're expected to prevent some sort of apocalypse"**, Angelus said, walking in. His wife stared questioningly at him and he said, **"Annabelle and Andrew are sleeping. I've read **_**Cinderella**_** for her and played the music box to him. So we can focus on the matter at hand".**

**"I still don't want them to go there"**, she said stubbornly. **"They're minors and only God knows what my mother is capable of doing once they set feet in Sunnydale".**

**"You want to tag along?"** Angelus asked calmly, his eyes never leaving his wife's. **"I hope you remember that if we go, then the smaller ones are going to go as well. Spike and Dru aren't going to get back for another three weeks, so we have no sitter to look over them during our absence".**

Elizabeth bit her lip dubiously. Did she want her twins to go to America? No, for she didn't know what her mother was capable of doing if she knew her minor grandchildren were in an arm's reach. Did she want to go herself to Sunnydale? No, for she knew it wasn't going to help (it was not her prophecy to fulfill), and for she knew she wouldn't be able to fight if she took her new babies with her.

**"I know we can't go, Angel"**, she said softly. **"But what if my mom keeps them there? You know she was never fond of you".**

Liam scoffed. **"Please, mom. Not even you guys can keep us around when we don't want to be. And you are our parents. You think dear grandma, whom we never met, is going to keep us locked somewhere?"**

Katherine, sitting by her brother's side, nodded vigorously. **"We go, we fight, we know good ole Hellmouth, we fly back"**, she said, and Angelus _had_ to bit back a laugh. That kid was so much like her mother when Elizabeth was sixteen.

**"I like the way you think, sis"**, Liam said with a grin, and then turned to their mother. **"Please let us go, mom. We'll be just peachy. We'll even call you everyday we're not here".**

Elizabeth was still knee deep in doubts, but she knew there wasn't a way out of this. She was going to let her children go to a place where she had sworn never to go again.

So, taking her husband's hand, she squeezed it firmly as she nodded, silently.

* * *

It was a bright, warm morning in Sunnydale, north California. The sun was shining, high on the blue skies and the halls of Sunnydale High were buzzing with life. Students came and went, either by themselves or in groups of three or four. But, once the young couple set foot in the main entrance, all life seemed to stop, as the teenagers stared in disbelieving awe at them. 

The boy was tall, with thick dark hair and deep brown eyes. He had a beautiful face, with strong features that weren't easy to be forgotten. However, his eyes stood up in his face – he had dark brown eyes, almost the shade of chocolate, and those eyes could hypnotize someone. He was a quiet type, usually, but his eyes spoke volumes.

Under the white shirt and denim pants, there were traces of a toned, worked-out body. He moved with certainty, with the feral grace of a nightly predator. His legs were long, as lean as the rest of his body, and his beauty attracted the eyes of all females of Sunnydale High – available or not, teachers and students.

His companion was as beautiful as he was, for a woman. She was almost as tall as he was, however being smaller than him. Her body was slim, athletic, and her flawless white skin seemed to glow under the early morning sun. She had long, dark brown wavy hair, and her eyes were as hypnotic as the boy's, only dark green, where his were chocolate brown. Her movements were as graceful as his, and she walked with the calm confidence only royalty have.

Neither one of the two new faces seemed uncomfortable on the environment, solemnly ignoring the curious glances every person around were shooting their way. However, the boy seemed to pick up on the fact that every boy was nearly drooling over the girl, and, with a small, jealous growl, he wrapped a strong arm around her narrow waist, bringing her closer to his body.

He smirked as every teenage pair of shoulders seemed to sag with disappointment. She turned to him with a question on her eyes and he nearly laughed out loud. **"There is no way in hell I'm letting these Ken dolls touch you"**, he told her in Gaelic. **"Just act like you're my girlfriend and we'll be just fine".**

**"You're crazy"**, she muttered, but slipped an arm around her waist, snuggling into his warmth. He was the closest thing to home she had right now, and the bond they shared – the nearly telepathic bond every pair of twins seem to have – was now sharper than ever. She was scared and she knew he knew this. She was worried with what they were about to face.

She wasn't thinking about the apocalypse, that wasn't cause of concern for her. She and he had been trained by their mother, father and foster brother ever since they could stand up fully, and their fighting skills were wonderful. They were going to be fine, she knew this. She was sure of this.

What worried her was the fact that they had to search for her mother's former friends in order to prevent the end of days. She knew they hadn't parted in the best way, and she understood her mother's fears. Hell, she was afraid as well. She didn't want to be kept in America – she wanted to fight and then go back home, to mommy, daddy and her baby brother and sister.

Her companion however… She chuckled. Liam was another story entirely. He wasn't afraid of being kept in a foreign land by some old woman – as he had told her while on the plane, _there is no way in hell some human woman can keep the Scourge of Europe's children away from their parents_. And she believed him. Liam was like every boy she knew, but deep down he was her brother, her twin, the one she knew since when inside their mother's womb, and she trusted him with her life. She knew where his loyalties lie – and those were with her, right now.

**"I love you"**, she whispered in English, and he squeezed her a little, dropping a kiss to her luxurious dark hair.

**"I love you too, sis"**, he whispered.

* * *

Katherine approached a small girl with dark burgundy hair. The girl was talking to some friends, and Katherine tapped her shoulder lightly **"Excuse me… Do you know where the library is?" **She asked with her most polite voice. 

The girl turned to them, and Katherine snickered at the way her eyes immediately went to Liam. She knew her brother was insanely hot, just like their father, but it didn't mean that she liked to notice when he was being looked at like he was some piece of meat. Standing in front of him and wrapping his arms around her waist, she repeated her question with a cold voice, **"Can you tell us where the library is?"**

Liam picked up the iciness in his twin's usually cheerful voice, chuckled and whispered in Gaelic to her, **"Back off… The girl won't jump me bones".**

**"Who says she won't?"** Katherine growled in the same language, and kissed his cheek. **"She's staring at you like Spike does at Dru"**, she rolled her eyes.

The girl blinked disappointedly as she noticed the way the hot new boy was clinging to the girl, and took a deep breath. **"Why don't I lead you there?"** She said, and Katherine nodded. Liam kept an arm around her, laughing inside at his sister's jealousy. **"So… Can I ask you what you guys want in the library?"**

**"We're here to talk to Ms. Rosemberg"**, Katherine replied, and nearly ran into the girl when she stopped abruptly.

**"Ms. Rosemberg… You mean Willow?"**

**"Yeah, Willow, that's her name"**, Katherine replied, slightly confused by the girl's sudden actions.

**"Oh"**, the girl made. She stopped in front of the double swing doors. **"Here we are. Sunnydale High's Library. I think Willow is in there. If she isn't you can check the computer room – she works there as well, as teacher"** The girl said as she walked away. **"Hey, maybe we can hang out later. Name is Christina. See ya!"** And then she darted away.

Liam laughed as Katherine shook her head. **"That girl is strange"**, she said as he pushed the double doors. They walked into the darkened library, and it was strangely empty and silent.

**"Hello?"** Liam called out in a loud voice. **"Is there anyone in here?"**

**"This place"**, Katherine whispered to her brother in an audible voice, **"gives me a hell of a lot of wiggins"**.

**"Ditto"**, he replied, and the twins startled when a deep, older male voice rang from behind them.

**"Can I help you?"**

They turned around sharply, and faced an older, more tired man. He had graying hair and friendly eyes behind glasses that he took out of his nose, cleaning the lenses with his handkerchief. **"Uh, yes… We're looking for Ms. Rosemberg"**, Katherine spoke quickly.

**"I was once Ms. Rosemberg"**, the soft, quiet female voice came from a place on their far right. The twins stared at that direction, and looked into the older version of the red-haired woman their mother had showed on an old picture. **"It's now Harris. Willow Harris. How can I help you?"** Willow said as she approached the twins.

Katherine looked cautiously at the man. **"Can't we do it in private?"**

**"Whatever it is that you need my help for, it surely can be spoken in front of my colleague"**, Willow said with a friendly smile, and turned to look at the quiet young man by the girl's side. As her eyes reached the boy's face, she nearly felt her heart stop beating.

Standing in front of her, looking as broody, dark and tall as she recalled him, there was Angel.

**"Angel?"** She whispered, as she approached him. Wesley lifted an eyebrow. The boy had just walked in from the sunny halls, there was no way he was Angel.

The girl stared at Willow in disbelief. **"You know our father?"** She asked before she could prevent it.

Willow turned sharply, incredulous eyes meeting the girl's fierce dark greens. **"Father?"**

**"Real smooth, Katty"**, the boy snorted, and put an arm protectively around the girl's waist. **"I'm Liam Angelus and she is Katherine Alicia. Mom sent us here because of some prophecy".**

Katherine elbowed his ribs. **"Real smooth you, idiot"**, she rolled her eyes.

Willow grabbed the nearest chair, falling into it. Her eyes incredulously went from Katherine to Liam, then back to Katherine, and she put a hand on her cheek. **"Oh my God…"** She whispered quietly. **"Buffy's twins are in Sunnydale".**


	15. It Ain't Over – The Finale Part 1

**Author's Note:** To my oh-so-faithful readers, here you have the new chapter. And it saddens me deeply that this story is coming to the end. I've had so much fun writing it.

I know I'm making the twins too affectionate towards each other and very close. However, this is how I see siblings: they can bicker and fight and yell at each other, but when it comes down to someone wanting to hurt one of them, the other is always there to protect him or her. If you don't understand why I'm saying this, just read this chapter.

**Children of Darkness**

**Chapter 15: It Ain't Over…**

**a.k.a.**

**The End – Part One**

Wesley widened his eyes as Willow whispered the words, and the young couple in front of him and his colleague smiled politely towards the red-head woman. **"I see you've heard of us"**, the girl said in a low, rumble-like voice.

**"We all have"**, a quiet female voice came from the swing doors, and the four heads turned that direction. Cordelia Chase-Pryce walked in, her eyes piercingly glued on the teenagers. **"But we never laid eyes on you guys, not even when you were babies. However, it's clear you're Buffy's and Angel's children"**, she finished, her eyes soft and gentle.

Willow turned to her friends. **"Why?"**

Cordelia rolled her eyes. **"Please, Will, it's so obvious, I'm shocked you haven't realized it earlier. I mean, the boy is a spitting image of the vampire with a soul we all knew".**

**"Without a soul, thank you"**, Katherine corrected sharply. The adults widened their eyes, and the girl could almost hear their jaws hitting the floor under their feet.

**"Angelus is still around?"** Willow asked in a disbelieving whisper.

Liam snorted. **"Of course Dad is still around. We're his family… Wife and children"**, he said, and Katherine smiled – no, she smirked, and a shiver ran down the women's spines. It was Angelus' smirk, into his daughter's face.

**"Of course, if it were for you, he wouldn't have been around"**, she said, casually but sharply, and Liam grinned.

**"Anyway… Where do we start? When do we start?"** He asked, looking around and fixing his chocolaty eyes on the watcher.

Wesley cleared his throat nervously. **"Oh, yes. The prophecy. Well, Willow and I pondered the end of days is going to happen two days from now, so… Do you have any place to stay for the nights?"**

**"Night"**, Katherine corrected him softly. **"As soon as we fight, we leave. Mom is probably driving dad nuts already"**, she muttered with her light Irish accent, and Liam chuckled.

Willow and Cordelia giggled, and for a nanosecond it was alright. Buffy was fine, Buffy was alive and well. She had sent her son and her daughter to help them. _It seems she still cares_, Willow reflected with a missing smile.

Then the moment was broken, by the deafening sound of something falling noisily on the floor by the door. Everyone stared that way, and Willow gasped as she noticed her husband's facial features twisted in anger. He marched right towards Liam, and Willow groaned, getting up quickly.

Katherine guessed what that unknown man was going to do just looking at his face. It showed all his anger, fury and hatred, and, although she couldn't understand why that man would react that way to her brother, she used her supernatural speed and stepped in between the man and Liam.

**"You touch my brother"**, she hissed, **"and I'll make sure you won't live to regret it".**

The man didn't seem to have listened to her, because he flexed his arm, and brought it forward, towards Liam's face. Katherine felt Liam reacting on instinct, crouching down behind her to dodge the punch, and she too acted on her instincts, her clenched fist connecting with the man's ribcage.

* * *

It was a coincidence that led Xander to the library. Alexandra, his older daughter with Willow, had forgotten some books on the car's backseat and, having seen it, he decided to give them to his wife. Since Willow wasn't on the teacher's room, he went to the library.

As soon as he stepped on the library, his eyes focused the man he hated with burning passion for more than fifteen years. Angel – no, Angelus – Angelus was back in Sunnydale, and apparently without Buffy. He had a beautiful girl clinging to him. _What the hell?_ He thought as he marched towards his nemesis, ready to punch him on the face for taking Buffy away and then abandoning her like she was nothing.

He was so angry that he didn't listen anything. He was ready to strike, when Angelus crouched down behind his new fling, and something – or someone – struck Xander on the chest.

He felt his body flying for what seemed an eternity, and all air left his lungs when his back crashed on the opposite wall with a slam. Blinking to clear his eyes from the stars that popped out of nowhere, he fell to the floor, and his wife hurried to his side. **"Are you okay?"** She asked, grabbing his forearm and helping him to his feet.

**"I'll live"**, he groaned, still slightly dizzy. His eyes darkened dangerously as they refocused again. **"What the fuck is he doing here?! Where's Buffy?!"** He hissed, and Willow squeezed his forearm forcefully.

**"Xander, calm down!"** She pleaded. **"This is not Angel!"**

Xander laughed humorlessly. **"Will, I'm not crazy, nor dumb. This is Angel, if my mind still works correctly".**

**"Then I was right when I said you never had your brain on the right place, Harris"**, Cordelia's voice was sharp and slightly cold. **"Those"**, she pointed at the boy and the girl, **"are Liam and Katherine, Buffy's kids".**

Xander's eyes widened.

* * *

Liam straightened up and ignored the man, as he turned to his baby sister. She was always protective of him – they were very protective of each other, actually – but she had never been this violent towards a person. He felt a bloom of pride at her readiness to jump to his defense, and took her hand on his larger one, massaging the reddening knuckles. **"Does it hurt?"** He asked quietly.

Katherine shook her head negatively and grinned sheepishly. **"I think I freaked… I might have broken his ribs"**, she added quietly. Liam chuckled and looked at the man, who was now being pulled to his feet by Willow.

**"I don't think you broke anything. But he's sure going to be sore for some days"**, he laughed, dropping her hand. **"It was one hell of a punch".**

**"I agree"**, Cordelia said. **"It's quite some strength you have there, kid".**

Katherine smiled to the brunette. She definitely liked that woman. **"One of the perks of being the natural child of slayer and vampire"**, she said proudly. Cordelia laughed, and Xander scowled at her, then glowered at Katherine.

**"You didn't need to try and kill me, kid"**, he said coldly.

**"Oh, yeah… And let you ruin the only decent thing my brother has… his face?"** Katherine shot back icily. **"I don't think so".**

**"Hey!"** Liam said, indignantly. **"I can take care of myself pretty well, thank you!"**

**"I know you do. However, you weren't expecting that, so there was a chance that he actually hit you".** She then made a pause and thought for a minute. **"Actually, let me rephrase – there was a chance you killed him, accidentally, of course".**

Liam thought for a moment and then nodded with a face. **"You're right… I might. But hey, in my defense, I plead self defense".**

Willow widened her eyes at this. **"Why did you say Liam could have killed Xander?"**

Katherine shrugged. **"It's easy. Liam crouched down, right? This… Xander…"** she repeated the name with a funny face, **"That's a funny name you have there – anyway, this Xander was too blind with rage to notice he had let his guard down. Liam was going to punch him on the gut, and then, bye-bye, Xander".**

**"You know me too well"**, Liam scowled. Katherine giggled then turned again to the shocked Wesley.

**"You were saying?"**

* * *

After having put a plan together with Wesley and Willow – who promised to introduce them to the current slayer in charger – Katherine poked Liam on the side. **"I think we should call mom"**, she whispered when he turned to look at her. **"Otherwise, she's gonna convince dad to fly all the way to here with the babies, and we don't want that"**, she said, with a pointed look towards the still glowering Xander.

Liam nodded, and they quietly sneaked out of the library.

* * *

Xander was mulling over Buffy having sent her children, her dear babies, to America. It was unexpected, after what she had done to protect Angelus.

Then a thought popped into his mind. What if she had done it as a plea for help? Maybe Angelus was keeping her prisoner and not letting her come back home. Maybe her kids were going to stay there and then she would tell Angelus she was going to retrieve them and then stay definitely there.

At this, he felt a spark of hope blossoming in his heart. He looked around and didn't see the kids anywhere. However, the swing doors were croaking softly, so he realized they had gone out. He stood up silently and crept out of the room, after the teenagers.

* * *

It was nearly eight p.m. in Ireland. Elizabeth had finished breastfeeding Andrew and was now lulling him to sleep. She smiled softly. She loved her life so much. It was so peaceful, so normal. Okay, so her husband couldn't take their children out to play on a park – not on broad daylight, that is, but it was as normal as a slayer – retired slayer – could get.

Thinking about her life made her think of her twins. Katie and Liam were all by themselves back in Sunnydale, and she hoped to God they were fine. She wondered how her former friends were going to react to their presence there, were they going to treat her children right.

The shrill ring of their phone cut through the night air, and her nearly asleep eight-month-old Andrew Angelus Summers-O'Connell started to fuss in his mother's arms. She began to rock him again, and then she heard the deep voice of her husband talking quietly on the cordless. Some minutes later he approached her, with their sleepy five-year-old Annabelle Caroline Summers-O'Connell cradled in one of his arms, the cordless hanging from the other hand.

He pressed a button on the telephone's base and put the receiver in its place. **"I've put you guys on speaker, so we can both listen to you guys"**, he said, as he shifted Annabelle in his arms. Elizabeth stared at him, confused. Who was this caller that it was so important Angelus had to put it on speaker?

**"Hey mom!"**

Her shoulders nearly sagged with relief when she heard her twins' voices. **"Oh my God!"** She squealed, then started rocking Andrew again, for he had wrinkled his forehead in preannounce of a big, fulltime fit of tears. **"Liam, Kate! I was so worried!"**

**"We know"**, the twins said in unison.

**"So, we've met some of your old friends, ma"**, Liam said casually, and Elizabeth froze a little.

**"That Xander tried to punch Liam!"** Katherine said, furious.

**"WHAT?"** Angelus roared, and this was it for little Andrew. He started to cry, and Elizabeth glared at him.

**"You, mister, take that baby to the nursery and make him sleep"**, she ordered. He then looked sheepishly at his wife, as their older children laughed on the other side of the line.

**"Uh, Lizzie, my hands are quite full right now"**, he said, signaling to their sleepy daughter.

**"I can go down, dada"**, Annabelle said, and with a sigh he put her on her feet, taking still squalling Andrew from Elizabeth. Elizabeth smoothed her daughter's ruffled hair.

**"Why don't you go lie down on the couch, baby kid?"** Elizabeth told her daughter softly, and Annabelle nodded weakly, falling asleep as soon as her petite body hit the soft cushions. **"Now, you two take care".**

**"We will"**, they said in unison.

**"I'm serious. Don't die on me".**

**"We won't".**

**"And tell Will and Cordy I miss them".**

**"We will".**

**"Tell daddy I love him and I understand why he disliked that Xander so much"**, Katherine added.

Elizabeth laughed and said, **"You're really your father's girl. Don't worry, I will. Night, sweethearts".**

**"Night, mom"**, they said in unison, and put the receiver back on its place.

* * *

Xander froze from his place on the shadows when he heard the twins' laughter. He could only hear their side of the conversation, but what he heard confirmed his suspicions. He crept back to the library, and started putting a plan together to help his former friend and her children. 


End file.
